LEOPARD'^
THOMAS D1XONJB
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University of California • Berkeley
GEORGE R. POTTER
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THE LEOPARD'S SPOTS
TWO THOUSAND MEN WENT MAD.
Can the Ethiopian change hit skin or the leopard his tprts f
THE
LEOPARD'S SPOTS
A ROMANCE OF THE WHITE
MAN'S BURDEN — 1 865 - 1900
BY
THOMAS DIXON, JR.
ILLUSTRATED BY C. D. WILLIAMS
NEW YORK
DOUBLED AY, PAGE & CO.
1903
Copyright^ zgoa>
by
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE <&* Co.
^// r*£#/j reserved
PuMWied, March «, i»*.
TO
HARRIET
SWEET-VOICED DAUGHTER OF THE
OLD FASHIONED SOUTH
Historical Note
IN answer to hundreds of letters, I wish to Bay that all the
incidents used in Book I., which is properly the prologue of
my story, were selected from authentic records, or came
within my personal knowledge.
The only serious liberty I have taken with history is to
tone down the facts to make them credible in fiction. The
village of ** Hambright " is my birthplace, and is located
near the center of " Military District No. 2," comprising the
Carolinas, which were destroyed as States by an Act of Con-
gress in 1867. It will be a century yet before people out-
side the South can be made to believe a literal statement of
the history of those times.
I tried to write this book with the utmost restraint
THOMAS DIXON, JR.
MAY 9, 1902.
ELMINGTON MANOR,
DlXONDALE, VA.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"Two THOUSAND MEN WENT MAD" M « M 'Erontispiece
PAGE
"You THIEF!* .« « » « ;« • ^
"COME ON BOYS!" . . •• ' • .- •« •* • I24
" I'LL KILL THE FIRST NIGGER THAT CROSSES THAT LINE". . 132
" A DAZZLING VISION OF BEAUTY " t . m « .« • 2SO
"Tms is MY THRONE". . .. '* * « « • 27°
TOM CAMP. . . • « f • ••' •' :« • 3^4
" I HAVE RESIGNED MY CHURCH— TO KILL YOU " . .1 . 45°
LEADING CHARACTERS OF THE STORY
Scene: The Foothills of North Carolines— Boston— New York
Time: From 1865 to 1900
CHARLES GASTON , .Who dreams of a Governor's Mansion,
SALLIE WORTH A daughter of the old fashioned South
GEN. DANIEL WORTH Her father
MRS. WORTH Sallie's mother
THE REV. JOHN DURHAM A preacher who threw his life away
MRS. DURHAM Of the Southern Army that never surrendered
TOM CAMP A one-legged Confederate soldier
FLORA Tom's little daughter
SIMON LEGREE Ex-slave driver and Reconstruction leader
ALLAN McLEOD A Scalawag
HON. EVERETT LOWELL Member of Congress from Boston
HELEN LOWELL His daughter
Miss SUSAN WALKER A maiden of Bostofi
MAJOR STUART DAMERON Chief of the Ku Klux Klan
HOSE NORMAN A dare-devil poor white man
NELSE A black hero of the old regime
AUNT EVE His wife — " a respectable woman."
HON. TIM SHELBY Political boss of the new era
HON. PETE SAWYER Sold seven times, got the money once
GEORGE HARRIS, JR An Educated Negro, son of Eliza
DICK ..An uniolvcd riddle
CONTENTS
BOOK I
PAGE
I. A HERO RETURNS . . . * « • * 3
n. A LIGHT SHINING IN DARKNESS v. ,« w « 19
III. DEEPENING SHADOWS . . M a M .30
IV. MR. LINCOLN'S DREAM . , . ,.- ,.-, r. . 34
V. THE OLD AND THE NEW CHURCH . . . .38
VI. THE PREACHER AND THE WOMAN OF BOSTON . . 44
VII. THE HEART OF A CHILD ... . . . 52
VIII. AN EXPERIMENT IN MATRIMONY ..... 58
IX. A MASTER OF MEN ....... 63
X. THE MAN OR BRUTE IN EMBRYO . . . .72
XI. SIMON LEGREE ..... . . .83
XII. RED SNOW DROPS . •« . w M . . 93
XIII. DICK . :., ... «, . . 98
XIV. THE NEGRO UPRISING . M ., ,., . .100
XV. THE NEW CITIZEN KING . . m . .104
XVI. LEGREE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE M .. , « 109
XVII. THE SECOND REIGN OF TERROR ., M M * . 118
XVIII. THE RED FLAG OF THE AUCTIONEER . M « .130
XIX. THE RALLY OF THE CLANSMEN . * m • . 143
XX. How CIVILIZATION WAS SAVED ., . w « . 153
XXI. THE OLD AND THE NEW NEGRO . . » . « 163
XXII. THE DANGER OF PLAYING WITH Fnos. . . * 165
XXIII. THE BIRTH OF A SCALAWAG .• M ., . .171
XXIV. A MODERN MIRACLE . „ . > ^ . . 176
xi
xfi Contents
BOOK H
!&o\>e's Bream
CHAPTER PAGE
I. BLUE EYES AND BLACK HAIR . . . . . 187
II. THE VOICE OF THE TEMPTER 193
III. FLORA . . . 200
IV. THE ONE WOMAN . j V . . . . 206
V. THE MORNING OF LOVE . . . . . * ^ . 213
VI. BESIDE BEAUTIFUL WATERS . ' '. .. . . 221
VII. DREAMS AND FEARS . .' . . . . . 234
VIII. THE UNSOLVED RIDDLE . . . . . .240
IX. THE RHYTHM OF THE DANCE . . . .244
X. THE HEART OF A VILLAIN .'.".. . . . 256
XI. THE OLD, OLD STORY . . . . . .265
XII. THE Music OF THE MILLS 277
XIII. THE FIRST Kiss . . . . . . .282
XIV. A MYSTERIOUS LETTER . . . . . .286
XV. A BLOW IN THE DARK 290
XVI. THE MYSTERY OF PAIN . „ . . . .301
XVII. Is GOD OMNIPOTENT? . . . . . . 306
XVIII. THE WAYS OF BOSTON ...... 310
XIX. THE SHADOW OF A DOUBT . ' . . . . 317
XX. A NEW LESSON IN LOVE . . . . . 320
XXI. WHY THE PREACHER THREW His LIFE AWAY . . 328
XXII. THE FLESH AND THE SPIRIT .. M ; . :., , 337
Contents xiii
BOOK III
Ube ttrfal b£ jfire
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A GROWL BENEATH THE EARTH . . M w . 349
II. FACE TO FACE WITH FATE . . ., w „ .. 351
III. A WHITE LIE . . » . « « M . 361
IV. THE UNSPOKEN TERROR . . ,« M M . 364
V. A THOUSAND-LEGGED BEAST . ... „. w . 372
VI. THE BLACK PERIL . . . . w K . 381
VII. EQUALITY WITH A RESERVATION. . ;. M . 385
VIII. THE NEW SIMON LEGREE. . . >, :. . 395
IX. THE NEW AMERICA . 404
X. ANOTHER DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. . . 409
XI. THE HEART OF A WOMAN. . . .. .41?
XII. THE SPLENDOUR OF SHAMELESS LOVE. ..* ,: . 423
XIII. A SPEECH THAT MADE HISTORY . . « . 431
XIV. THE RED SHIRTS . . . . ... * . 445
XV. THE HIGHER LAW . . . . . -..- . 447
XVI. THE END OF A MODERN VILLAIN . . ./' . 455
XVII. WEDDING BELLS IN THE GOVERNOR'S MANSION ... . 457
LEGREE'S REGIME
THE LEOPARD'S SPOTS
3Boofc ©ne— Xearee's
CHAPTER I
A HERO RETURNS
ON the field of Appomattox General Lee was wait-
ing the return of a courier. His handsome face
was clouded by the deepening shadows of de-
feat. Rumours of surrender had spread like wildfire, and
the ranks of his once invincible army were breaking into
chaos.
Suddenly the measured tread of a brigade was heard
marching into action, every movement quick with the
perfect discipline, the fire, and the passion of the first days
of the triumphant Confederacy;
" What brigade is that? " he sharply asked.
" Cox's North Carolina," an aid replied.
As the troops swept steadily past the General, his eyes
filled with tears, he lifted his hat, and exclaimed,
" God bless old North Carolina ! "
The display of matchless discipline perhaps recalled to
the great commander that awful day of Gettysburg when
the Twenty-sixth North Carolina infantry had charged
with 820 men rank and file and left 704 dead and wounded
on the ground that night. Company F from Campbell
county charged with 91 men and lost every man killed
4 The Leopard's Spots
and wounded. Fourteen times their colours were shot
down, and fourteen times raised again. The last time
they fell from the hands of gallant Colonel Harry Burg-
wyn, twenty-one years old, commander of the regiment,
who seized them and was holding them aloft when in-
stantly killed.
The last act of the tragedy had closed. Johnston sur-
rendered to Sherman at Greensboro on April 26th, 1865,
and the Civil War ended, — the bloodiest, most destruc-
tive war the world ever saw. The earth had been bap-
tized in the blood of five hundred thousand heroic soldiers,
and a new map of the world had been made.
The ragged troops were straggling home from Greens-
boro and Appomattox along the country roads. There
were no mails, telegraph lines or railroads. The men
were telling the story of the surrender. White-faced
women dressed in coarse homespun met them at their
doors and with quivering lips heard the news.
Surrender !
A new word in the vocabulary of the South — a word so
terrible in its meaning that the date of its birth was to
be the landmark of time. Henceforth all events would be
reckoned from this ; " before the Surrender," or " after
the Surrender."
Desolation everywhere marked the end of an era. Not
a cow, a sheep, a horse, a fowl, or a sign of animal life
save here and there a stray dog, to be seen. Grim chim-
neys marked the site of once fair homes. Hedgerows of
tangled blackberry briar and bushes showed where a fence
had stood before war breathed upon the land with its
breath of fire and harrowed it with teeth of steel.
These tramping soldiers looked worn and dispirited.
Their shoulders stooped, they were dirty and hungry.
They looked worse than they felt, and they felt that the
end of the world had come.
A Hero Returns J
They had answered those awful commands to charge
without a murmur; and then, rolled back upon a sea of
blood, they charged again over the dead bodies of their
comrades. When repulsed the second time and the mad
cry for a third charge from some desperate commander
had rung over the field, still without a word they pulled
their old ragged hats down close over their eyes as though
to shut out the hail of bullets, and, through level sheets of
blinding flame, walked straight into the jaws of hell. This
had been easy. Now their feet seemed to falter as though
they were not sure of the road.
In every one of these soldier's hearts, and over all the
earth hung the shadow of the freed Negro, trans-
formed by the exigency of war from a Chattel to be
bought and sold into a possible Beast to be feared and
guarded. Around this dusky figure every white man's
soul was keeping its grim vigil.
North Carolina, the typical American Democracy, had
loved peace and sought in vain to stand between the mad
passions of the Cavalier of the South and the Puritan
fanatic of the North. She entered the war at last with a
sorrowful heart but a soul clear in the sense of tragic
duty. She sent more boys to the front than any other-
state of the Confederacy — and left more dead on the field.
She made the last charge and fired the last volley for
Lee's army at Appomattox.
These were the ragged country boys who were slowly
tramping homeward. The group whose fortunes we are
to follow were marching toward the little village
of Hambright that nestled in the foothills of the
Blue Ridge under the shadows of King's Mountain.
They were the sons of the men who had first declared their
independence of Great Britain in America and had made
their country a hornet's nest for Lord Cornwallis in
the darkest days of the cause of Liberty. What tongue
6 The Leopard's Spots
can tell the tragic story of their humble home com-
ing?
In rich Northern cities could be heard the boom of
guns, the scream of steam whistles, the shouts of surging
hosts greeting returning regiments crowned with victory.
From every flag-staff fluttered proudly the flag that our
fathers had lifted in the sky — the flag that had never met
defeat.
It is little wonder that in this hour of triumph the world
should forget the defeated soldiers who without a dollar
in their pockets were tramping to their ruined homes.
Yet Nature did not seem to know of sorrow or death.
Birds were singing their love songs from the hedgerows,
the fields were clothed in gorgeous robes of wild flowers
beneath which forget-me-nots spread their contrasting
hues of blue, while life was busy in bud and starting leaf
reclothing the blood-stained earth in radiant beauty.
As the sun was setting behind the peaks of the
Blue Ridge, a giant negro entered the village of Ham-
bright. He walked rapidly down one of the prin-
cipal streets, passed the court house square unobserved
in the gathering twilight, and three blocks further along-
paused before a law-office that stood in the corner of a
beautiful lawn filled with shrubbery and flowers.
" Dars de ole home, praise ' de Lawd ! En now Fse
erfeard ter see my Missy, en tell her Marse Charles's
daid. Hit'll kill her ! Lawd hab mussy on my po black
soul! How kin I!"
He walked softly up the alley that led toward the
kitchen past the "big" house, which after all was a
modest cottage boarded up and down with weatherstrips
nestling amid a labyrinth of climbing roses, honey-
suckles, fruit bearing shrubbery and balsam trees. The
negro had no difficulty in concealing his movements as
he passed.
A Hero Returns 7
" Lordy, dars Missy watchin' at de winder ! How pale
she look ! En she wuz de purties' bride in de two coun-
ties ! God-der-mighty, I mus' git somebody ter he'p me !
I nebber tell her! She drap daid right 'fore my eyes,
en hant me twell I die. I run fetch de Preacher, Marse
John Durham, he kin tell her."
A few moments later he was knocking at the door of
the parsonage of the Baptist church.
" Nelse ! At last ! I knew you'd come ! "
" Yassir, Marse John, I'se home. Hit's me."
" And your Master is dead. I was sure of it, but I
never dared tell your Mistress. You came for me to help
you tell her. People said you had gone over into the
promised land of freedom and forgotten your people ; but
Nelse, I never believed it of you and I'm doubly glad
to shake your hand to-night because you've brought a
brave message from heroic lips and because you have
brought a braver message in your honest black face of
faith and duty and life and love."
" Thankee Marse John, I wuz erbleeged ter come
home."
The Preacher stepped into the hall and called the serv-
ant from the kitchen.
" Aunt Mary, when your Mistress returns tell her I've
received an urgent call and will not be at home for
sapper."
" I'll be ready in a minute, Nelse," he said, as he dis-
appeared into the study. When he reached his desk, he
paused and looked about the room in a helpless way as
though trying to find some half forgotten volume in
the rows of books that lined the walls and lay in piles
on his desk and tables. He knelt beside the desk and
prayed. When he rose there was a soft light in his
eyes that were half filled with tears.
Standing in the dim light of his study he was a strik-
8 The Leopard's Spots
ing man. He had a powerful figure of medium height,
deep piercing eyes and a high intellectual forehead. His
hair was black and thick. He was a man of culture, had
graduated at the head of his class at Wake Forest College
before the war, and was a profound student of men and
books. He was now thirty-five years old and the ac-
knowledged leader of the Baptist denomination in the
state. He was eloquent, witty, and proverbially good
natured. His voice in the pulpit was soft and clear,
and full of a magnetic quality that gave him hypnotic
power over an audience. He had the prophetic tempera-
ment and was more of poet than theologian.
The people of this village were proud of the man as
a citizen and loved him passionately as their preacher.
Great churches had called him, but he had never ac-
cepted. There was in his make-up an element of the
missionary that gave his personality a peculiar force.
He had been the college mate of Colonel Charles Gas-
ton whose faithful slave had come to him for help, and
they had always been bosom friends. He had performed
the marriage ceremony for the Colonel ten years before
when he had led to the altar the beautiful daughter of
the richest planter in the adjoining county. Dur-
ham's own heart was profoundly moved by his friend's
happiness and he threw into the brief preliminary
address so much of tenderness and earnest passion
that the trembling bride and ^groom forgot their fright
and were melted to tears. Thus began an association of
their family life that was closer than their college days.
He closed his lips firmly for an instant, softly shut the
door and was soon on the way with Nelse. On reaching
the house, Nelse went directly to the kitchen, while the
Preacher walking along the circular drive approached
the front. His foot had scarcely touched the step when
Mrs. Gaston opened the door.
A Hero Returns 9
" Oh, Dr. Durham, I am so glad you have come ! " she
exclaimed. " I've been depressed to-day, watching the sol-
diers go by. All day long the poor foot-sore fellows have
been passing. I stopped some of them to ask about Colo-
nel Gaston and I thought one of them knew something and
would not tell me. I brought him in and gave him dinner,
and tried to coax him, but he only looked wistfully at
me, stammered and said he didn't know. But some how
I feel that he did. Come in Doctor, and say something
to cheer me. If I only had your faith in God ! "
" I have need of it all to-night, Madam ! " he answered
with bowed head.
" Then you have heard bad news ? "
" I have heard news, — wonderful news of faith and
love, of heroism and knightly valour, that will be a price-
less heritage to you and yours. Nelse has returned — "
" God have mercy on me ! " — she gasped covering her
face and raising her arm as though cowering from a
mortal blow.
" Here is Nelse, Madam. Hear his story. He has
only told me a word or two." Nelse had slipped quietly
in the back door.
" Yassum, Missy, Fse home at las'."
She looked at him strangely for a moment. " Nelse,
I've dreamed and dreamed of your coming, but always
with him. And now you come alone to tell me he is
dead. Lord have pity ! there is nothing left ! " There
was a far-away sound in her voice as though half
dreaming.
" Yas, Missy, dey is, I jes seed him — my young
Marster — dem bright eyes, de ve'y nose, de chin, de mouf !
He walks des like Marse Charles, he talks like him, he
de ve'y spit er him, en how he hez growed! He'll be
er man fo you knows it. En I'se got er letter fum his Pa
fur him, an er letter fur you, Missy."
ID The Leopard's Spots
At this moment Charlie entered the room, slipped past
Nelse and climbed into his mother's arms. He was a
sturdy little fellow of eight years with big brown eyes
and sensitive mouth.
" Yassir — Ole Grant wuz er pushin' us dar afo' Rich-
mon'. Pear ter me lak Marse Robert been er fightin'
him ev'y day for six monts. But he des keep on pushin'
en pushin' us. Marse Charles say ter me one night atter
I been playin' de banjer fur de boys, ' Come ter my tent
Nelse fo turnin' in — I wants ter see you/ He talk so
solemn like, I cut de banjer short, en go right er long
wid him. He been er writin' en done had two letters
writ. He say, ' Nelse, we gwine ter git outen dese
trenches ter-morrer. It twell be my las' charge. I feel
it. Ef I falls, you take my swode, en watch en dese
letters back home to your Mist'ess and young Marster,
en you promise me, boy, to stan' by em in life ez I stan'
by you/ He know I lub him bettern any body in dis
worl', en dat I'd rudder be his slave dan be free if he's
daid ! En 1 say, ' Dat I will, Marse Charles/
" De nex day we up en charge ole Grant. Pears ter
me I nebber see so many dead Yankees on dis yearth ez
we see layin' on de groun' whar we brake froo dem
lines ! But dey des kep f etchin' up annudder army back
er de one we breaks, twell bymeby, dey swing er whole
millyon er Yankees right plum behin' us, en five millyon
er fresh uns come er swoopin' down in front. Den yer
otter see my Marster! He des kinder riz in de air —
pear ter me like he wuz er foot taller en say to his men
— ' 'Bout face, en charge de line in de rear ! ' Wall sar,
we cut er hole clean froo dem Yankees en er minute, end
den bout face ergin en begin ter walk backerds er fight-
in' like wilecats ev'y inch. We git mos back ter de
trenches, when Marse Charles drap des lak er flash! I
runned up to him. en dar wuz er big hole in his breas'
A Hero Returns n
whar er bullet gone clean froo his heart. He nebber
groan. I tuk his head up in my arms en cry en take on
en call him ! I pull back his close en listen at his heart.
Hit wuz still. I takes de swode an de watch en de letters
outen de pockets en start on — when bress God, yer cum
dat whole Yankee army ten hundred millyons, en dey
tromple all over us!
" Den I hear er Yankee say ter me * Now, my man,
you'se free/ ' Yassir, sezzi, dats so/ en den I see a hole
ter run whar dey warn't no Yankees, en I run spang
into er millyon mo. De Yankees wuz ev'y whar. Pear
ter me lak dey riz up outer de groun'. All dat day I try
ter get away fum 'em. En long 'bout night dey 'rested
me en fetch me up fo er Genr'l, en he say,
" What you tryin' ter get froo our lines fur, nigger ?
Doan yer know yer free now, en if you go back you'd be
a slave ergin? "
"Dats so, sah/' sezzi, "but I'se 'bleeged ter go
home."
"What fur?" sezze.
" Promise Marse Charles ter take dese letters en swode
en watch back home to my Missus en young Marster,
en dey waitin' fur me — I'se 'bleeged ter go."
" Den he tuk de letters en read er minute, en his eyes
gin ter water en he choke up en say, ' Go-long ! '
" Den I skeedaddled ergin. Dey kep on ketchin' me
twell bimeby er nasty stinkin low-life slue-footed Yankee
kotched me en say dat I wuz er dang'us nigger, en .sont
me wid er lot er our prisoners way up ter ole Jonson's
Islan' whar I mos froze ter deaf. I stay dar twell one
day er fine lady what say she from Boston cum er long,
en I up en tells her all erbout Marse Charles and my
Missus, en how dey all waitin' fur me, en how bad I want
ter go home, en de nex news I knowed I wuz on er train
er whizzin' down home wid my way all paid. I get wid
12 The Leopard's Spots
our men at Greensboro en come right on fas' ez my
legs'd carry me."
There was silence for a moment and then slowly Mrs.
Gasf on said, " May God reward you, Nelse ! "
" Yassum, I'se free, Missy, but I gwine ter wuk for
you en my young Marster."
Mrs. Gaston had lived daily in a sort of trance through
those four years of war, dreaming and planning for the
great day when her lover would return a handsome
bronzed and famous man. She had never conceived of
the possibility of a world without his will and love to
lean upon. The Preacher was both puzzled and alarmed
by the strangely calm manner she now assumed. Before
leaving the home he cautioned Aunt Eve to watch her
Mistress closely and send for him if anything happened.
When the boy was asleep in the nursery adjoining her
room, she quietly closed the door, took the sword of her
dead lover-husband in her lap and looked long and ten-
derly at it. On the hilt she pressed her lips in a lingering
kiss.
" Here his dear hand must have rested last ! " she
murmured. She sat motionless for an hour with eyes
fixed without seeing. At last she rose and hung the
sword beside his picture near her bed and drew from her
bosom the crumpled, worn letters Nelse had brought.
The first was addressed to her.
" In the Trenches Near Richmond, May 4, 1864.
" SWEET WIFIE : — I have a presentiment to-night that
I shall not live to see you again. I feel the shadows of
defeat and ruin closing upon us. I am surer day by
day that our cause is lost and surrender is a word I
have never learned to speak. If I could only see you
for one hour, that I might tell you all I have thought
in the lone watches of the night in camp, or marching
A Hero Returns 13
over desolate fields. Many tender things I have never
said to you I have learned in these days. I write this last
message to tell you how, more and more beyond the power
of words to express, your love has grown upon me, until
your spirit seems the breath I breathe. My heart is so full
of love for you and my boy, that I can't go into battle now
without thinking how many hearts will ache and break in
far away, homes because of the work I am about to do. I
am sick of it all. I long to be at home again and walk
with my sweet young bride among the flowers she loves
so well, and hear the old mocking bird that builds each
spring in those rose bushes at our window.
If I am killed, you must live for our boy and rear
him to a glorious manhood in the new nation that will
be born in this agony. I love you, — I love you unto the
uttermost, and beyond death I will live, if only to love
you forever.
Always in life or death your own,
CHARLES/'
For two hours she held this letter open in her hands
and seemed unable to move it. And then mechanically
she opened the one addressed to " Charles Gaston, jr."
" MY DARLING BOY : — I s^end you by Nelse my watch
and sword. It will be all I can bequeath to you from
the wreck that will follow the war. This sword was your
great grandfather's. He held it as he charged up the
heights of King's Mountain against Ferguson and helped
to carve this nation out of a wilderness. It was a sor-
rowful day for me when I felt it my duty to draw that
sword against the old flag in defence of my home and
my people. You will live to see a reunited country. Hang
this sword back beside the old flag of our fathers when
the end has come, and always remember that it was never
14 The Leopard's Spots
drawn from its scabbard by your father, or your grand-
father who fought with Jackson at New Orleans, or your
great grandfather in the Revolution, save in the cause
of justice and right. I am not righting to hold slaves in
bondage. I am righting for the inalienable rights of my
people under the Constitution our fathers created. It
may be we have outgrown this Constitution. But I
calmly leave to God and history the question as to who
is right in its interpretation. Whatever you do in life,
first, last and always do what you believe to be right.
Everything else is of little importance. With a heart
full of love, Your father,
CHARLES GASTON."
This letter she must have held open for hours, for it
was two o'clock in the morning when a wild peal of
laughter rang from her feverish lips and brought Aunt
Eve and Nelse hurrying into the room.
It took but a moment for them to discover that their
Mistress was suffering from a violent delirium. They
soothed her as best they could. The noise and confusion
had awakened the boy. Running to the door leading
into his mother's room he found it bolted, and with his
little heart fluttering in terror he pressed his ear close
to the key-hole and heard her wild ravings. How strange
her voice seemed! Her voice had always been so soft
and low and full of soothing music. Now it was sharp
and hoarse and seemed to rasp his flesh with needles.
What could it all mean? Perhaps the end of the world,
about which he had heard the Preacher talk on Sundays
At last unable to bear the terrible suspense longer he
cried through the key-hole,
" Aunt Eve, what's the matter? Open the door quick."
" No, honey, you mustn't come in. Yo Ma's awful
sick. You run out ter de barn, ketch de mare, en fly for
A Hero Returns 15
de doctor while me en Nelse stay wid her. Run honey,
day's nuttin' ter hurt yer."
His little bare feet were soon pattering over the
long stretch of the back porch toward the barn. The
night was clear and sky studded with stars. There
was no moon. He was a brave little fellow, but a fear
greater than all the terrors of ghosts and the white
sheeted dead with which Negro superstition had filled his
imagination, now nerved his child's soul. His mother
was about to die! His very heart ceased to beat at the
thought. He must bring the doctor and bring him
quickly.
He flew to the stable not looking to the right or the
left. The mare whinnied as he opened the door to get
the bridle.
" It's me Bessie. Mama's sick. We must go for the
doctor quick ! "
The mare thrust her head obediently down to the
child's short arm for the. bridle. She seemed to know
by some instinct his quivering voice had roused that the
home was in distress and her hour had come to bear a
part.
In a moment he led her out through the gate, climbed
on the fence, and sprang on her back.
" Now, Bess, fly for me ! " he half whispered, half
cried through the tears he could no longer keep back.
The mare bounded forward in a swift gallop as she felt
his trembling bare legs clasp her side, and the clatter
of her hoofs echoed in the boy's ears through the silent
streets like the thunder of charging cavalry. How still
the night! He saw shadows under the trees, shut his
eyes and leaning low on the mare's neck patted her
shoulders with his hands and cried,
" Faster, Bessie ! Faster ! " And then he tried to pray.
" Lord don't let her die ! Please, dear God, and I will
16 The Leopard's Spots
always be good. I am sorry I robbed the bird's nests
last summer — I'll never do it again. Please, Lord I'm
such a wee boy and I'm so lonely. I can't lose my
Mama ! " — and the voice choked and became a great sob.
He looked across the square as he passed the court house
in a gallop and saw a light in the window of the parson-
age and felt its rays warm his soul like an answer to his
prayer.
He reached the doctor's house on the further side
of the town, sprang from the mare's back, bounded up
the steps and knocked at the door. No one answered.
He knocked again. How loud it rang through the. hall!
May be the doctor was gone ! He had not thought of
such a possibility before. He choked at the thought.
Springing quickly from the steps to the ground he felt
for a stone, bounded back and began to pound on the
door with all his might.
The window was raised, and the old doctor thrust his
head out calling,
"What on earth's the matter? Who is that?"
" It's me, Charlie Gaston — my Mama's sick — she's
awful sick, I'm afraid she's dying — you must come
quick!"
" All right, sonny, I'll be ready in a minute."
The boy waited and waited. It seemed to him hours,
days, weeks, years! To every impatient call the doctor
would answer,
" In a minute, sonny, in a minute ! "
At last he emerged with his lantern, to catch his horse.
The doctor seemed so slow. He fumbled over the har-
ness.
" Oh ! Doctor you're so slow ! I tell you my Mama's
sick—!"
"Well, well, my boy, we'll soon be there," the old
man kindly replied.
A Hero Returns 17
When the boy saw the doctor's horse jogging quickly
toward his home he turned the mare's head aside as he
reached the court house square, roused the Preacher, and
between his sobs told the story of his mother's illness.
Mrs. Durham had lost her only boy two years before.
Soon Charlie was sobbing in her arms.
" You poor little darling, out by yourself so late at
night, were you not scared ? " she asked as she kissed the
tears from his eyes.
" Yessum, I was scared, but I had to go for the doctor.
I want you and Dr. Durham to come as quick as you
can. I'm afraid to go home. I'm afraid she's dead, or
I'll hear her laugh that awful way I heard to-night."
" Of course we will come, dear, right away. We will
be there almost as soon as you can get to the house."
H^ rode slowly along the silent street looking back
now and then for the Preacher and his wife. As he was
pass'ig a small deserted house he saw to his horror a
ragged man peering into the open window. Before he
had time to run, the man stepped quickly up to the mare
and said,
" Who lived here last, little man? "
" Old Miss Spurlin," answered the boy.
"Where is she now?"
" She's dead."
The man sighed, and the boy saw by his gray uniform
that he was a soldier just back from the war, and he
quickly added,
" Folks said they had a hard time, but Preacher Dur-
ham helped them lots when they had nothing to
eat."
" So my poor old mother's dead. I was afraid of it."
He seemed to be talking to himself. " And do you know
where her gal is that lived with her ? "
" She's in a little house down in the woods below town.
18 The Leopard's Spots
They say she's a bad woman, and my Mama would never
let me go near her."
The man flinched as though struck with a knife,
steadied himself for a moment with his hands on the
mare's neck and said,
" You're a brave little one to be out alone this time
o'night, — what's your name?"
" Charles Gaston."
" Then you're my Colonel's boy — many a time I fol-
lowed him where men were fallin' like leaves — I wish
to God I was with him now in the ground! Don't tell
anybody you saw me, — them that knowed me will think
I'm dead, and it's better so."
" Good-bye, sir," said the child " I'm sorry for you if
you've got no home. I'm after the doctor for my Mama,
— she's very sick. I'm afraid she's going to die, and if
you ever pray I wish you'd pray for her."
The soldier came closer. " I wish I knew how
to pray, my boy. But it seemed to me I forgot every-
thing that was good in the war, and there's nothin' left
but death and hell. But I'll not forget you, good-bye ! "
When Charlie was in bed, he lay an hour with wide
staring eyes, holding his breath now and then to catch
the faintest sound from his mother's room. All was
quiet at last and he fell asleep. But he was no longer
a child. The shadow of a great sorrow had enveloped his
soul and clothed him with the dignity and fellowship of
the mystery of pain.
CHAPTER II
A LIGHT SHINING IN DARKNESS
IN the rear of Mrs. Gaston's place, there stood in the
midst of an orchard a log house of two rooms,
with hallway between them. There was a mud-
thatched wooden chimney at each end, and from the
back of the hallway a kitchen extension of the same
material with another mud chimney. The house stood
in the middle of a ten acre lot, and a woman was busy
in the garden with a little girl, planting seed.
" Hurry up Annie, less finish this in time to fix up a
fine dinner er greens and turnips an 'taters an a chicken.
Yer Pappy '11 get home to-day sure. Colonel Gaston's
Nelse come last night. Yer Pappy was in the Colonel's
regiment an' Nelse said he passed him on the road comin'
with two one-legged soldiers. He ain't got but one leg,
he says. But, Lord, if there's a piece of him left we'll
praise God an' be thankful for what we've got."
" Maw, how did he look ? I mos' forgot — 's been so
long sence I seed him ? " asked the child.
" Look ! Honey ! He was the handsomest man in
Campbell county ! He had a tall fine figure, brown curly
beard, and the sweetest mouth that was always smilin' at
me, an' his eyes twinklin' over somethin' funny he'd
seed or thought about. When he was young ev'ry gal
around here was crazy about him. I got him all right,
an' he got me too. Oh me! I can't help but cry, to
think he's been gone so long. But he's comin' to-day!
I jes feel it in my bones."
19
2O The Leopard's Spots
" Look a yonder, Maw, what a skeer-crow ridin' er ole
boss ! " cried the girl, looking suddenly toward the road.
"Glory to God! It's Tom!" she shouted, snatching
her old faded sun-bonnet off her head and fairly flying
across the field to the gate, her cheeks aflame, her blond
hair tumbling over her shoulders, her eyes wet with tears.
Tom was entering the gate of his modest home in as
fine style as possible, seated proudly on a stack of bones
that had once been a horse, an old piece of wool on his
head that once had been a hat, and a wooden peg fitted
into a stump where once was a leg. His face was pale
and stained with the red dust of the hill roads, and his
beard, now iron grey, and his ragged buttonless uniform
were covered with dirt. He was truly a sight to scare
crows, if not of interest to buzzards. But to the woman
whose swift feet were hurrying to his side, and whose
lips were muttering half articulate cries of love, he was
the knightliest figure that ever rode in the lists before
the assembled beauty of the world.
" Oh ! Tom, Tom, Tom, my ole man ! You've come
at last ! " she sobbed as she threw her arms around his
neck, drew him from the horse and fairly smothered him
with kisses.
" Look out, ole woman, you'll break my new leg ! "
cried Tom when he could get breath.
" I don't care, — I'll get you another one," she laughed
through her tears.
" Look out there again you're smashing my game
shoulder. Got er Minie ball in that one. "
"Well your mouth's all right I see," cried the de-
lighted woman, as she kissed and kissed him.
" Say, Annie, don't be so greedy, give me a chance at
my young one." Tom's eyes were devouring the excited
girl who had drawn nearer.
"Come and kiss your Pappy and tell him how glad
A Light Shining in Darkness 21
you are to see him ! " said Tom, gathering her in his arms
and attempting to carry her to the house.
He stumbled and fell. In a moment the strong arms
of his wife were about him and she was helping him into
the house.
She laid him tenderly on the bed, petted him and cried
over him. " My poor old man, he's all shot and cut to
pieces. You're so weak, Tom — I can't believe it. You
were so strong. But we'll take care of you. Don't you
worry. You just sleep a week and then rest all summer
and watch us work the garden for you ! "
He lay still for a few moments with a smile playing
around his lips.
" Lord, ole woman, you don't know how nice it is to
be petted like that, to hear a woman's voice, feel her
breath on your face and the touch of her hand, warm
and soft, after four years sleeping on dirt and living with
men and mules, and fightin' and runnin' and diggin'
trenches like rats and moles, killin' men, buryin' the
dead like carrion, holdin' men while doctors sawed their
legs off, till your turn came to be held and sawed ! You
can't believe it, but this is the first feather bed I've
touched in four years. "
"Well, well!— Bless God it's over now," she cried.
" S'long as I've got two strong arms to slave for you —
as long as there's a piece of you left big enough to hold
on to— I'll work for you," and again she bent low over
his pale face, and crooned over him as she had so often
done over his baby in those four lonely years of war and
poverty.
Suddenly Tom pushed her aside and sprang up in bed.
" Geemimy, Annie, I forgot my pardners— there's two
more peg-legs out at the gate by this time waiting for
us to get through huggin' and carryin' on before they
come in. Run, fetch 'em in quick!"
22 The Leopard's Spots
Tom struggled to his feet and met them at the door.
" Come right into my palace, boys. I've seen some
fine places in my time, but this is the handsomest one I
ever set eyes on. Now, Annie, put the big pot in the
little one and don't stand back for expenses. Let's have
a dinner these fellers '11 never forget."
It was a feast they never forgot. Tom's wife had
raised a brood of early chickens, and managed to keep
them from being stolen. She killed four of them and
cooked them as only a Southern woman knows how.
She had sweet potatoes carefully saved in the mound
against the kitchen chimney. There were turnips and
greens and radishes, young onions and lettuce and hot
corn dodgers fit for a king ; and in the centre of the table
she deftly fixed a pot of wild flowers little Annie had
gathered. She did not tell them that it was the last peck
of potatoes and the last pound of meal. This belonged
to the morrow. To-day they would live.
They laughed and joked over this splendid banquet,
and told stories of days and nights of hunger and ex-
haustion, when they had filled their empty stomachs
with dreams of home.
" Miss Camp, you've got the best husband in seven
states, did you know that ? " asked one of the soldiers, a
mere boy.
" Of course she'll agree to that, sonny," laughed Tom.
" Well it's so. If it hadn't been for him, M'am, we'd
a been peggin' along somewhere way up in Virginny
'stead o' bein' so close to home. You see he let us ride
his hoss a mile and then he'd ride a mile. We took it
turn about, and here we are."
"Tom, how in this world did you get that horse?"
asked his wife.
" Honey, I got him on my good looks," said lie with a
wink. " You see I was a settin' out there in the sun the
A Light Shining in Darkness 33
day o' the surrender. I was sorter cryin' and wonderlii'
how I'd get home with that stump of wood instead of a
foot, when along come a chunky heavy set Yankee Gen-
eral, looking as glum as though his folks had surrendered
instead of Marse Robert. He saw me, stopped, looked at
me a minute right hard and says, " Where do you live? "
" Way down in ole No'th Caliny," I says, " at Ham-
bright, not far from King's Mountain."
" How are you going to get home ? " says he.
" God knows, I don't, General. I got a wife and baby
down there I ain't seed fer nigh four years, and I want
to see 'em so bad I can taste 'em. I was lookin' the other
way when I said. that, fer I was purty well played out,
and feelin' weak and watery about the eyes, an' I didn't
want no Yankee General to see water in my eyes."
" He called a feller to him and sorter snapped out to
him, " Go bring the best horse you can spare for this
man and give it to him."
" Then he turns to me and seed I was all choked up
and couldn't say nothin' and says:
" I'm General Grant. Give my love to your folks when
you get home. I've known what it was to be a poor
white man down South myself once for awhile."
" God bless you, General. I thanks you from the bot-
tom of my heart," I says as quick as I could find my
tongue, " if it had to be surrender I'm glad it was to
such a man as you.
" He never said another word, but just walked slow
along smoking a big cigar. So ole woman, you know the
reason I named that hoss, ' General Grant.' It may be
I have seen finer bosses than that one, but I couldn't
recollect anything about 'em on the road home."
Dinner over, Tom's comrades rose and looked wist-
fully down the dusty road leading southward.
" Well, Tom, ole man, we gotter be er movin'," said the
24 The Leopard's Spots
older of the two soldiers. " We're powerful obleeged
to you fur helpin' us along this fur."
" All right, boys, you'll find yer train standin' on the
side o' the track eatin' grass. Jes climb up, pull the
lever and let her go."
The men's faces brightened, their lips twitched. They
looked at Tom, and then at the old horse. They looked
down the long dusty road stretching over hill and valley,
hundreds of miles south, and then at Tom's wife and
child, whispered to one another a moment, and the elder
said:
" No, pardner, you've been awful good to us, but we'll
get along somehow — we can't take yer hoss. It's all yer
got now ter make a livin' on yer place."
" All I got ? " shouted Tom, " man alive, ain't you seed
my ole woman, as fat and jolly and han'some as when I
married her 'leven years ago ? Didn't you hear her cryin'
an' shoutin' like she's crazy when I got home? Didn't
you see my little gal with eyes jes like her daddy's?
Don't you see my cabin standin' as purty as a ripe peach
in the middle of the orchard when hundreds of fine
houses are lyin' in ashes ? Ain't I got ten acres of land ?
Ain't I got God Almighty above me and all around me,
the same God that watched over me on the battlefields?
All I got? That old stack o' bones that looks like er
hoss ? Well I reckon not ! "
" Pardner, it ain't right," grumbled the soldier, with
more of cheerful thanks than protest in his voice.
" Oh ! Get off you fools," said Tom good-naturedly,
" ain't it my hoss ? Can't I do what I please with him ? "
So with hearty hand-shakes they parted, the two astride
the old horse's back. One had lost his right leg, the other
his left, and this gave them a good leg on each side to
hold the cargo straight.
A Light Shining in Darkness 25
"Take keer yerself, Tom!" they both cried in the
same breath as they moved away.
" Take keer yerselves, boys. I'm all right 1 " answered
Tom, as he stumped his way back to the home. " It's all
right, it's all right/' he muttered to himself. " He'd a
eome in handy, but I'd a never slept thinkin' o' them
peggin' along them rough roads."
Before reaching the house he sat down on a wooden
bench beneath a tree to rest. It was the first week in May
and the leaves were not yet grown. The sun was pour-
ing his hot rays down into the moist earth, and the heat
began to feel like summer. As he drank in the beauty
and glory of the spring his soul was melted with joy.
The fruit trees were laden with the promise of the treas-
ures of the summer and autumn, a cat-bird was singing
softly to his mate in the tree over his head, and a mock-
ing-bird seated in the topmost branch of an elm near his
cabin home was leading the oratorio of feathered song-
sters. The wild plum and blackberry briars were in full
bloom in the fence corners, and the sweet odour filled the
air. He heard his wife singing in the house.
" It's a fine old world after all ! " he exclaimed leaning
back and half closing his eyes, while a sense of ineffable
peace filled his soul. " Peace at last ! Thank God ! May
I never see a gun or a sword, or hear a drum or a fife's
scream on this earth again ! "
A hound came close wagging his tail and whining for
a word of love and recognition.
" Well, Bob, old boy, you're the only one left. You'll
have to chase cotton-tails by yourself now."
Bob's eyes watered and he licked his master's hand
apparently understanding every word he said.
Breaking from his master's hands the dog ran toward
the gate barking, and Tom rose in haste as he recognised
26 The Leopard's Spots
the sturdy tread of the Preacher, Rev, John Durham,
walking rapidly toward the house.
Grasping him heartily by the hand the Preacher said,
" Tom, you don't know how it warms my soul to look
into your face again. When you left, I felt like a man
•who had lost one hand. I've found it to-day. You're
the same stalwart Christian full of joy and love. Some
men's religion didn't stand the wear and tear of war:
You've come out with your soul like gold tried in the
fire. Colonel Gaston wrote me you were the finest
soldier in the regiment, and that you were the
only Chaplain he had seen that he could consult for
his own soul's cheer. That's the kind of a deacon to
send to the front! I'm proud of you, and you're still
at your old tricks. I met two one-legged soldiers down
the road riding your horse away as though you had a
stable full at your command. You needn't apologise or
explain, they told me all about it."
" Preacher, it's good to have the Lord's messenger
speak words like them. I can't tell you how glad I am
to be home again and shake your hand. I tell you it was
a comfort to me when I lay awake at night on them
battlefields, a wonderin' what had become of my ole
woman and the baby, to recollect that you were here, and
how often I'd heard you tell us how the Lord tempered
the wind to the shorn lamb. Annie's been telling me who
watched out for her them dark days when there was
nothin' to eat. I reckon you and your wife knows the
way to this house about as well as you do to the church."
Tom had pulled the Preacher down on the seat be-
side him while he said this.
" The dark days have only begun, Tom. I've come
to see you to have you cheer me up. Somehow you al-
ways seemed to me to be closer to God than any man in
the church. You will need all your faith now. It seems
A Light Shining in Darkness 27
to me that every second woman I know is a widow.
Hundreds of families have no seed even to plant, no
horses to work crops, no men who will work if they had
horses. What are we to do? I see hungry children in
every house."
" Preacher, the Lord is looking down here to-day and
sees all this as plain as you and me. As long as He is
in the sky everything will come all right on the earth."
" How's your pantry ? " asked the Preacher.
" Don't know. ' Man shall not live by bread alone/
you know. When I hear these birds in the trees an' see
this old dog waggin' his tail at me, and smell the breath
of them flowers, and it all comes over me that I'm done
killin' men, and I'm at home, with a bed to sleep on, a
roof over my head, a woman to pet me and tell me I'm
great and handsome, I don't feel like I'll ever need any-
thing more to eat ! I believe I could live a whole month
here without eatin' a bite."
" Good. You come to the prayer meeting to-night
and say a few things like that, and the folks will believe
they have been eating three square meals every day."
" I'll be there. I ain't asked Annie what she's got,
but I know she's got greens and turnips, onions and col-
lards, and strawberries in the garden. Irish tat"*s '11 be
big enough to eat in three weeks, and sweets connn' right
on. We've got a few chickens. The blackberries and
plums and peaches and apples are all on the road. Ah!
Preacher, it's my soul that's been starved away from my
wife and child!"
"You don't know how much I need help sometimes
Tom. I am always giving, giving myself in sympathy
and help to others, I'm famished now and then. I feel
faint and worn out. You seem to fill me again with
life."
" I'm glad to hear you say that, Preacher. I get down-
28 The Leopard's Spots
hearted sometimes, when I recollect I'm nothin' but a
poor white man. I'll remember your words. I'm goin'
to do my part in the church work. You know where to
fold me."
" Well, that's partly what brought me here this morn-
ing. I want you to help me look after Mrs. Gaston and
her little boy. She is prostrated over the death of the
Colonel and is hanging between life and death. She is in
a delirious condition all the time and must be watched
day and night. I want you to watch the first half of the
night with Nelse, and Eve and Mary will watch the last
half."
" Of course, I'll do anything in the world I can for
my Colonel's widder. He was the bravest man that ever
led a regiment, and he was a father to us boys. I'll be
there. But I won't set up with that nigger. He can
go to bed."
" Tom, it's a funny thing to me that as good a Christian
as you are should hate a nigger so. He's a human being.
It's not right."
" He may be human, Preacher, I don't know. To tell
you the truth, I have my doubts. Anyhow, I can't help
it. God knows I hate the sight of 'em like I do a rattle-
snake. That nigger Nelse, they say is a good one. He
was faithful to the Colonel, I know, but I couldn't bear
him no more than any of the rest of 'em. I always hated
a nigger since I was knee high. My daddy and my
mammy hated 'em before me. Somehow, we always felt
like they was crowdin' us to death on them big planta-
tions, and the little ones too. And then I had to leave
my w?*' and baby and fight four years, all on account
cf their stinkin' hides, that never done nothin' for me
except make it harder to live. Every time I'd go into
battle and hear them Minie balls begin to sing over us,
it seemed to me I could see their black ape faces grin-1
A Light Shining in Darkness 29
nin' and makin' fun of poor whites. At night when
they'd detail me to help the ambulance corps carry off
the dead and the wounded, there was a strange smell on
the field that came from the blood and night damp and
burnt powder. It always smelled like a nigger to me!
It made me sick. Yes, Preacher, God forgive me, I hate
'em ! I can't help it any more than I can the color of my
skin or my hair."
" I'll fix it with Nelse, then. You take the first part
of the night 'till twelve o'clock. I'll go down with you
from the church to-night," said the Preacher, as he shook
Tom's hand and took his leave.
CHAPTER III
DEEPENING SHADOWS
ON the second day after Mrs. Gaston was stricken
a forlorn little boy sat in the kitchen watching
Aunt Eve get supper. He saw her nod while
she worked the dough for the biscuits.
" Aunt Eve, I'm going to sit up to-night and every
night with my Mama, 'till she gets well. I can't sleep
for hours and hours. I lie awake and cry when I hear
her talking 'till I feel like I'll die. I must do something
to help her."
" Laws, honey, you'se too little. You can't keep
'wake 'tall. You get so lonesome and skeered all by yer-
self."
" I don't care, I've told Tom to wake me to-night if
I'm asleep when he goes, and I'll sit up from twelve 'till
two o'clock and then call you."
" All right, Mammy's darlin' boy, but you git tired en
can't stan' it."
So that night at midnight he took his place by the bed-
side. His mother was sleeping, at first. He sat and
gazed with aching heart at her still, white face. She
stirred, opened her eyes, saw him, and imagined he was
his father.
" Dearie, I knew you would come," she murmured.
" They told me you were dead ; but I knew better. What
a long, long time you have been away. How brown the
sun has tanned your face, but it's just as handsome. I
30
Deepening Shadows 31
think handsomer than ever. And how like you is little
Charlie ! I knew you would be proud of him ! "
While she talked, her eyes had a glassy look, that
seemed to take no note of anything in the room.
The child listened for ten minutes, and then the horror
of her strange voice, and look and words overwhelmed
him. He burst into tears and threw his arms around his
mother's neck and sobbed.
" Oh ! Mama dear, it's me, Charlie, your little boy, who
loves you so much. Please, don't talk that way. Please
look at me like you used to. There! Let me kiss your
eyes 'till they are soft and sweet again ! "
He covered her eyes with kisses.
The mother seemed dazed for a moment, held him off
at arm's length, and then burst into laughter.
" Of course, you silly, I know you. You must run to
bed now. Kiss me good night."
" But you are sick, Mama, I am sitting up with you."
Again she ignored his presence. She was back in the
old days with her Love. She was kissing her hand to him
as he left her for his day's work. Charlie looked at the
clock. It was time to give her the soothing drops the
doctor left. She took it, obedient as a child, and went
on and on with interminable dreams of the past, now
and then uttering strange things for a boy's ears. But
so terrible was the anguish with which he watched her,
the words made little impression on his mind. It seemed
to him some one was strangling him to death, and a
great stone was piled on his little prostrate body.
When she grew quiet, at last, and dosed, how still the
house seemed! How loud the tick of the clock! How
slowly the hands moved ! He had never noticed this be-
fore. He watched the hands for five minutes. It seemed
each minute was an hour, and five minutes were as long
as a day. What strange noises in the house! Suppose
32 The Leopard's Spots
a ghost should walk into the room! Well, he wouldn't
run and leave his Mama; he made up his mind to that.
Some nights there were other sounds more ominous.
The town was crowded with strange negroes, who were
hanging around the camp of the garrison. One night a
drunken gang came shouting and screaming up the alley
close beside the house, firing pistols and muskets. They
stopped at the house, and one of them yelled,
" Burn the rebel's house down ! It's our turn now ! "
The terrified boy rushed to the kitchen and called
Nelse. In a minute, Nelse was on the scene. There was
no more trouble that night.
" De lazy black debbels," said Nelse, as he mopped the
perspiration from his brow, "111 teach 'em what freedom
is."
The next day when the Rev. John Durham had an in-
terview with the Commandant of the troops, he succeeded
in getting a consignment of corn for seed, and to meet
the threat of starvation among some families whose con-
dition he reported. This important matter settled, he
said to the officer,
" Captain, we must look to you for protection. The
town is swarming with vagrant negroes, bent on mis-
chief. There are camp followers with you organizing
them into some sort of Union League meetings, dealing
out arms and ammunition to them, and what is worse,
inflaming the worst passions against their former mas-
ters, teaching them insolence and training them for
crime."
" I'll do the best I can for you, Doctor, but I can't con-
trol the camp followers who are organising the Union
League. They live a charmed life."
That night, as the Preacher walked home from a visit
to a destitute family, he encountered a burly negro on
the sidewalk, dressed in an old suit of Federal uniform,
Deepening Shadows 33
evidently under the influence of whiskey. He wore a belt
around his waist, in which he had thrust, conspicuously,
an old horse pistol.
Standing squarely across the pathway, he said to the
Preacher,
" Git outer de road, white man, you'se er rebel, Fse er
Loyal Union Leaguer ! "
It was his first experience with Negro insolence since
the emancipation of his slaves. Quick as a flash, his
right arm was raised. But he took a second thought,
stepped aside, and allowed the drunken fool to pass. He
went home wondering in a hazy sort of way through his
excited passions what ftie end of it all would be. Gradu-
ally in his mind for days this towering figure of the freed
Negro had been growing more and more ominous, until
its menace overshadowed the poverty, the hunger, the
sorrows and the devastation of the South, throwing the
blight of its shadow over future generations, a veritable
Black Death for the land and its people.
CHAPTER IV
MR. LINCOLN'S DREAM
EVERY morning before the Preacher could finish
his breakfast, callers were knocking at the door
— the negro, the poor white, the widow, the or-
phan, the wounded, the hungry, an endless procession.
The spirit of the returned soldiers was all that he
could ask. There was nowhere a slumbering spark of
war. There was not the slightest effort to continue the
lawless habits of four years of strife. Everywhere the
spirit of patience, self-restraint and hope marked the life
of the men who had made the most terrible soldiery.
They were glad to be done with war, and have the oppor-
tunity to rebuild their broken fortunes. They were glad,
too, that the everlasting question of a divided Union was
settled and settled forever. There was now to be one
country and one flag, and deep down in their souls they
were content with it.
The spectacle of this terrible army of the Confederacy,
the memory of whose battle cry yet thrills the world,
transformed in a month into patient and hopeful work-
men, has never been paralleled in history.
Who destroyed this scene of peaceful rehabilitation?
Hell has no pit dark enough, and no damnation deep
enough for these conspirators when once history has
fixed their guilt.
The task before the people of the South was one to tax
the genius of the Anglo-Saxon race as never in its his-
34
Mr. Lincoln's Dream 35
tory, even had every friendly aid possible been extended
by the victorious North. Four million negroes had sud-
denly been freed, and the foundations of economic order
destroyed. Five billions of dollars worth of property
were wiped out of existence, banks closed, every dollar
of money worthless paper, the country plundered by vic-
torious armies, its cities, mills and homes burned, and the
flower of its manhood buried in nameless trenches, or
worse still, flung upon the charity of poverty, maimed
wrecks. The task of organising this wrecked society
and marshalling into efficient citizenship this host of
ignorant negroes, and yet to preserve the civilisation of
the Anglo-Saxon race, the priceless heritage of two
thousand years of struggle, was one to appal the wisdom
of ages. Honestly and earnestly the white people of the
South set about this work, and accepted the Thirteenth
amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery with-
out a protesting vote.
The President issued his proclamation announcing the
method of restoring the Union as it had been handed to
him from the martyred Lincoln, and endorsed unani-
mously by Lincoln's Cabinet. This plan was simple,
broad and statesmanlike, and its spirit breathed Frater-
nity and Union with malice toward none and charity
toward all. It declared what Lincoln had always taught,
that the Union was indestructible, that the rebellious
states had now only to repudiate Secession, abolish slav-
ery, and resume their positions in the Union, to preserve
which so many lives had been sacrificed.
The people of North Carolina accepted this plan in
good faith. They elected a Legislature composed of the
noblest men of the state, and chose an old Union man,
Andrew Macon, Governor. Against Macon was pitted
the man who was now the President and organiser of a
federation of secret oath-bound societies, of which the
36 The Leopard's Spots
Union League, destined to play so tragic a part in the
drama about to follow was the type. This man, Amos
Hogg, was a writer of brilliant and forceful style. Be-
fore the war, a virulent Secessionist leader, he had justified
and upheld slavery, and had written a volume of poems
dedicated to John C. Calhoun. He had led the move-
ment for Secession in the Convention which passed the
ordinance. But when he saw his ship was sinking, he
turned his back upon the " errors " of the past, professed
the most loyal Union sentiments, wormed himself into
the confidence of the Federal Government, and actually
succeeded in securing the position of Provisional Gover-
nor of the state! He loudly professed his loyalty, and
with fury and malice demanded that Vance, the great
war Governor, his predecessor, who, as a Union man had
opposed Secession, should now be hanged, and with him
his own former associates in the Secession Convention,
whom he had misled with his brilliant pen.
But the people had a long memory. They saw through
this hollow pretense, grieved for their great leader, who
was now locked in a prison cell in Washington, and
voted for Andrew Macon.
In the bitterness of defeat, Amos Hogg sharpened his
wits and his pen, and began his schemes of revengeful
ambition.
The fires of passion burned now in the hearts of hosts
of cowards, North and South, who had not met their
foe in battle. Their day had come. The times were
ripe for the Apostles of Revenge and their breed of states-
men.
The Preacher threw the full weight of his character
and influence to defeat Hogg and he succeeded in carry-
ing the county for Macon by an overwhelming majority.
At the election only the men who had voted under the old
regime were allowed to vote. The Preacher had not ap-
Mr. Lincoln's Dream 37
peared on the hustings as a speaker, but as an organizer
and leader of opinion he was easily the most powerful man
in the county, and one of the most powerful in the
state.
CHAPTER V
THE OLD AND THE NEW CHURCH
IN the village of Hambright the church was the centre
of gravity of the life of the people. There were but
two churches, the Baptist and the Methodist. The
Episcopalians had a building, but it was built by
the generosity of one of their dead members. There
were four Presbyterian families in town, and they were
working desperately to build a church. The Baptists had
really taken the county, and the Methodists were their
only rivals. The Baptists had fifteen flourishing churches
in the county, the Methodists six. There were no
others.
The meetings at the Baptist church in the village of
Hambright were the most important gatherings in the
county. On Sunday mornings everybody who could
walk, young and old, saint and sinner, went to church,
and by far the larger number to the Baptist church.
You could tell by the stroke of the bells that the
two were rivals. The sextons acquired a peculiar
skill in ringing these bells with a snap and a jerk that
smashed the clapper against the side in a stroke that
spoke defiance to all rival bells, warning of everlasting
fire to all sinners that should stay away, and due notice to
the saints that even an apostle might become a castaway
unless he made haste.
The men occupied one side of the house, the women
the other. Only very small boys accompanying their
38
The Old and the New Church 39
mothers were to be seen on the woman's side, together
with a few young men who fearlessly escorted thither
their sweethearts.
Before the services began, between the ringing of the
first and second bells, the men gathered in groups in the
church yard and discussed grave questions of politics and
weather. The services over the men lingered in the
yard to shake hands with neighbours, praise or criticise
the sermon, and once more discuss great events. The
boys gathered in quiet, wistful groups and watched the
girls come slowly out of the other door, and now and then
a daring youngster summoned courage to ask to see one
of them home.
The services were of the simplest kind. The Singing
of the old hymns of Zion, the Reading of the Bible, the
Prayer, the Collection, the Sermon, the Benediction.
The Preacher never touched on politics, no matter what
the event under whose world import his people gathered.
War was declared, and fought for four terrible years.
Lee surrendered, the slaves were freed, and society was
torn from the foundations of centuries, but you would
never have known it from the lips of the Rev. John Dur-
ham in his pulpit. These things were but passing events.
When he ascended the pulpit he was the Messenger of
Eternity. He spoke of God, of Truth, of Righteousness,
of Judgment, the same yesterday, to-day and forever.
Only in his prayers did he come closer to the inner*
thoughts and perplexities of the daily life of the people.
He was a man of remarkable power in the pulpit. His
mastery of the Bible was profound. He could speak
pages of direct discourse in its very language. To him
it was a divine alphabet, from whose letters he could
compose the most impassioned message to the individual
hearer before him. Its literature, its poetic fire, the epic
sweep of the Old Testament record of life, were in-
40 The Leopard's Spots
wrought into the very fibre of his soul. As a preacher
he spoke with authority. He was narrow and dogmatic
in his interpretations of the Bible, but his very narrow-
ness and dogmatism were of his flesh and blood, ele-
ments of his power. He never stooped to controversy.
He simply announced the Truth. The wise received it.
The fools rejected it and were damned. That was all
there was to it.
But it was in his public prayers that he was at his best.
Here all the wealth of tenderness of a great soul was laid
bare. In these prayers he had the subtle genius that
could find the way direct into the hearts of the people
before him, realise as his own their sins and sorrows,
their burdens and hopes and dreams and fears, and then,
when he had made them his own, he could give them
the wings of deathless words and carry them up to the
heart of God. He prayed in a low soft tone of voice ; it
was like an honest earnest child pleading with his father.
What a hush fell on the people when these prayers began !
With what breathless suspense every earnest soul followed
him!
Before and during the war, the gallery of this church,
which was built and reserved for the negroes, was always
crowded with dusky listeners that hung spellbound on
his words. 'Now there were only a few, perhaps a dozen,
and they were growing fewer. Some new and mysterious
power was at work among the negroes, sowing the seeds
of distrust and suspicion. He wondered what it could be.
He had always loved to preach to these simple hearted
children of nature, and watch the flash of resistless emo:
tion sweep their dark faces. He had baptised over
five hundred of them into the fellowship of the churches
in the village and the county during the ten years of his
ministry.
He determined to find out the cause of this desertion
The Old and the New Church 41
of his church by the negroes to whom he had ministered
so many years.
At the close of a Sunday morning's service, Nelse was
slowly descending the gallery stairs leading Charlie
Gaston by the hand, after the church had been nearly
emptied of the white people. The Preacher stopped him
near the door.
"How's your Mistress, 'Nelse?"
" She's gettin' better all de time now praise de Lawd.
Eve she stay wid er dis mornin', while I fetch dis boy ter
church. He des so sot on goin'."
" Where are all the other folks who used to fill that
gallery, Nelse?"
" You doan tell me, you aint heard about dem ? " he
answered with a grin.
" Well, I haven't heard, and I want to hear."
" De laws-a-massy, dey done got er church er dey
own ! Dey has meetin' now in de school house dat
Yankee 'oman built. De teachers tell 'em ef dey aint
good ernuf ter set wid de white folks in dere chu'ch,
dey got ter hole up dey haids, and not 'low nobody ter
push em up in er nigger gallery. So dey's got ole Uncle
Josh Miller to preach fur 'em. He 'low he got er call,
en he stan' up dar en holler fur 'em bout er hour ev'ry
Sunday mawnin' en night. En sech whoopin', en yellin',
en bawlin'! Yer can hear 'em er mile. Dey tries ter
git me ter go. I tell 'em, Marse John Durham's preach-
in's good ernuf fur me, gall'ry er no gall'ry. I tell 'em
dat I spec er gall'ry nigher heaven den de lower flo'
enyhow — en fuddermo', dat when I goes ter church, I
wants ter hear sumfin' mo' dan er ole fool nigger er
bawlin'. I can holler myself. En dey low I gwine back
on my colour. En den I tell 'em I spec I aint so proud
dat I can't larn fum white folks. En dey say dey gwine
ter lay fur me yit."
4* The Leopard's Spots
" I'm sorry to hear this," said the Preacher thought-
fully.
" Yassir, hits des lak I tell yer. I spec dey gone fur
good. Niggers aint got no sense nohow. I des wish
I own 'em erbout er week ! Dey gitten madder'n madder
et me all de time case I stay at de ole place en wuk fer
my po' sick Mistus. Dey sen* er Kermittee ter see me
mos' ev'ry day ter 'splain ter me I'se free. De las' time
dey come I lam one on de haid wid er stick er wood erfo
dey leave me lone."
" You must be careful, Nelse."
" Yassir, I nebber hurt 'im. Des sorter crack his skull
er little ter show 'im what I gwine do wid 'im nex' time
dey come pesterin' me."
" Have they been back to see you since ? "
" Dat dey aint. But dey sont me word dey gwine
git de Freeman's Euro atter me. En I sont 'em back
word ter sen Mr. Euro right on en I land 'im in de
middle er a spell er sickness, des es sho es de Lawd
gimme strenk."
" You can't resist the Freedman's Bureau, Nelse."
" What dat Euro got ter do wid me, Marse John ? "
" They've got everything to do with you, my boy.
They have absolute power over all questions between the
Negro and the white man. They can prohibit you from
working for a white person without their consent, and
they can fix your wages and make your contracts."
" Well, dey better lemme erlone, or dere'll be trouble
in dis town, sho's my name's Nelse."
" Don't you resist their officer. Come to me if you
get into trouble with them," was the Preacher's parting
injunction.
Nelse made his way out leading Charlie by the hand,
and bowing his giant form in a quaint deferential way
to the white people he knew. He seemed proud of his
Tht Old and the New Church 43
association in the church with the whites, and the posi-
tion of inferiority assigned him hi no sense disturbed
his pride. He was muttering to himself as he walked
slowly along looking down at the ground thoughtfully.
There was infinite scorn and defiance in his voice.
" Bu-ro ! Bu-ro ! Des let 'em fool wid me ! Ill make
'em see de seben stars in de middle er de day ! "
CHAPTER VI
THE PREACHER AND THE WOMAN OF BOSTON
THE next day the Preacher had a call from Miss
Susan Walker of Boston, whose liberality had
built the new Negro school house and whose life
and fortune was devoted to the education and elevation of
the Negro race. She had been in the village often within
the year, running up from Independence where she was
building and endowing a magnificent classical college for
negroes. He had often heard of her, but as she stopped
with negroes when on her visits he had never met her.
He was especially interested in her after hearing inci-
dentally that she was a member of a Baptist church in
Hoslon.
On entering the parlour the Preacher greeted his
visitor with the deference the typical Southern man in-
stinctively pays to woman.
" I am pleased to meet you, Madam," he said with
a rraeriiil huw and kindly smile, as he led her to the
most comfortable seat he could find.
She looked him squarely in the face for a moment as
Ihoiii'li sm-prir.eil ;md smilingly replied.
11 1 believe you Southern men are all alike, woman
flatterers. You have a way of making every woman be-
lieve you think her a queen. It pleases me, I can't help
confessing it, though I sometimes despise myself for it.
Hui I am not going to give you an opportunity to feed
my vanity this morning, I've come for a plain face to
44
r. :
^nei
:ier
- . :-
::_.:.
46 The Leopard's Spots
a divine mission this morning. I mean to establish a
high school in this village for the negroes, and to build
a Baptist church for them. I learn from them that
they have great faith in you. Many of them desire your
approval and co-operation. Will you help me ? "
" To be perfectly frank, I will not. You ask me for
plain English. I will give it to you. Your presence
in this village as a missionary to the heathen is an insult
to our intelligence and Christian manhood. You come
at this late day a missionary among the heathen, the
heathen whose heart and brain created this Republic with
civil and religious liberty for its foundations, a mission-
ary among the heathen who gave the world Washington,
whose giant personality three times saved the cause of
American Liberty from ruin when his army had melted
away. You are a missionary among the children of Wash-
ington, Jefferson, Monroe, Madison, Jackson, Clay and
Calhoun! Madam, I have baptised into the fellowship
of the church of Christ in this county more negroes than
you ever saw in all your life before you left Boston.
" At the close of the war there were thousands of
negro members of white Baptist churches in the state.
Your mission is not to proclaim the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Your mission is to teach crack-brained theories
of social and political equality to four millions of igno-
rant negroes, some of whom are but fifty years removed
from the savagery of African jungles. Your work is to
separate and alienate the negroes from their former
masters who can be their only real friends and guar-
dians. Your work is to sow the dragon's teeth of an
impossible social order that will bring forth its harvest
of blood for our children."
He paused a moment, and, suddenly facing her con-
tinued, " I should like to help the cause you have at heart
and the most effective service I could render it now would
The Preacher and the Woman of Boston 47
be to box you up in a glass cage, such as are used for
rattlesnakes, and ship you back to Boston."
" Indeed ! I suppose then it is still a crime in the
South to teach the Negro ? " she asked this in little gasps
of fury, her eyes flashing defiance and her two rows of
white teeth uncovering by the rising of her pugnacious
nose."
" For you, yes. It is always a crime to teach a lie."
" Thank you. Your frankness is all one could wish ! "
" Pardon my apparent rudeness. You not only invited,
you demanded it. While about it, let me make a clean
breast of it. I do you personally the honour to acknowl-
edge that you are honest and in dead earnest, and that
you mean well. You are simply a fanatic."
" Allow me again to thank you for your candour ! "
" Don't mention it, Madam. You will be canonised in
due time. In the meantime let us understand one an-
other. Our lives are now very far apart, though we
read the same Bible, worship the same God and hold the
same great faith. In the settlement of this Negro question
you are an insolent interloper. You're worse, you are a
wilful spoiled child of rich and powerful parents playing
with matches in a powder mill. I not only will not help
you, I would, if I had the power seize you, and remove
you to a place of safety. But I cannot oppose you. You
are protected in your play by a million bayonets and back
of these bayonets are banked the fires of passion in the
North ready to burst into flame in a moment. The only
thing I can do is to ignore your existence. You under-
stand my position."
" Certainly, Doctor," she replied good naturedly.
She had recovered from the rush of her anger now and
was herself again. A curious smile played round her
lips as she quietly added:
" I must really thank you for your candour. You have
48 The Leopard's Spots
helped me immensely. I understand the situation now
perfectly. I shall go forward cheerfully in my work and
never bother my brain again about you, or your people,
or your point of view. You have aroused all the fighting
blood in me. I feel toned up and ready for a life strug-
gle. I assure you I shall cherish no ill feeling toward you.
I am only sorry to see a man of your powers so blinded by
prejudice. I will simply ignore you."
" Then, Madam, it is quite clear we agree upon estab-
lishing and maintaining a great mutual ignorance. Let
us hope, paradoxical as it may seem, that it may be for
the enlightenment of future generations ! "
She arose to go, smiling at his last speech.
" Before we part, perhaps never to meet again, let me
ask you one question," said the Preacher still looking
thoughtfully at her.
" Certainly, as many as you like."
" Why is it that you good people of the North are
spending your millions here now to help only the
negroes, who feel least of all the sufferings of this war?
The poor white people of the South are your own
flesh and blood. These Scotch Covenanters are of the
same Puritan stock, these German, Huguenot and
English people are all your kinsmen, who stood at the
stake with your fathers in the old world. They are,
many of them, homeless, without clothes, sick and hungry
and broken hearted. But one in ten of them ever owned
a slave. They had to fight this war because your armies
invaded their soil. But for their sorrows, sufferings and
burdens you have no ear to hear and no heart to pity.
This is a strange thing to me."
" The white people of the South can take care of them-
selves. If they suffer, it is God's just punishment for
their sins in owning slaves and fighting against the flag.
Do I make myself clear? " she snapped.
,1
:-:
fckso?"
Yes.I«.
1 I'--. .
~ .-_•*.
-±er
--'
50 The Leopard's Spots
" I meant no offense by the question. I love cats too.
But I wondered if you were collecting negroes only now,
or, whether you were adding other specimens to your
menagerie for experimental purposes."
She bit her lips, and in spite of her efforts to restrain
her anger, tears sprang to her eyes as she turned toward
the Preacher whose face now looked calmly down upon
her with ill-concealed pride.
" Oh ! the insolence of you Southern people toward
those who dare to differ with you about the Negro ! "
she cried with rage.
" I confess it humbly as a Christian, it is true. My
scorn for these maudlin ideas is so deep that words have
no power to convey it. But come," said the Preacher
in the kindliest tone. " Enough of this. I am pained to
see tears in your eyes. Pardon my thoughtlessness. Let
us forget now for a little while that you are an idea, and
remember only that you are a charming Boston woman
of the household of our own faith. Let me call Mrs.
Durham, and have you know her and discuss with her
the thousand and one things dear to all women's hearts."
" No, I thank you ! I feel a little sore and bruised, and
social amenities can have no meaning for those whose
souls are on fire with such antagonistic ideas as yours
and mine. If Mrs. Durham can give me any sympathy
in my work I'll be delighted to see her, otherwise I
must go."
The Preacher laughed aloud.
" Then let me beg of you, never meet Mrs. Durham.
If you do, the war will break out again. I don't wish
to figure in a case of assault and battery. Mrs. Durham
was the owner of fifty slaves. She represents the bluest
of the blue blood of the slave-holding aristocracy of the
South. She has never surrendered and she never will.
Wars, surrenders, constitutional amendments and such
The Preacher and the Woman of Boston 51
little things make no impression on her mind whatever.
If you think I am difficult, you had better not puzzle
your brain over her. I am a mildly constructive man of
progress. She is a Conservative."
" Then we will say good-bye," said Miss Walker, ex-
tending her small plump hand in friendly parting. " I
accept your challenge which this interview implies. I
will succeed if God lives," and she set her lips with a
snap that spoke volumes.
" And I will watch you from afar with sorrow and
fear and trembling," responded the Preacher.
CHAPTER VII
THE HEART OF A CHILD
MRS. GASTON'S recovery from the brain fever
which followed her prostration was slow and
painful. For days she would be quite herself
as she would sit up in bed and smile at the wistful face
of the boy who sat tenderly gazing into her eyes, or with
swift feet was running to do her slightest wish.
Then days of relapse would follow when the child's
heart would ache and ache with a dumb sense of despair
as he listened to her incoherent talk, and heard her mean-
ingless laughter. When at length he could endure it
no longer, he would call Aunt Eve, run from the house,
as fast as his little legs could carry him, and in the woods
lie down in the shadows and cry for hours.
" I wonder if God is dead ? " he said one day as he
lay and gazed at the clouds sweeping past the openings
in the green foliage above.
" I pray every day and every night, but she don't get
well. Why does He leave her like that, when she's
so good ! " and then his voice choked into sobs, and he
buried his face in the leaves.
He was suddenly roused by the voice of Nelse who
stood looking down on his forlorn figure with tender-
ness.
" What you doin' out in dese woods, honey, by yo'
se'f?"
" Nothin', Nelse."
52
The Heart of a Child J3
" I knows. You'se er crying 'bout yo Ma."
The boy nodded without looking up.
" Doan do dat way, honey. You'se too little ter cry
lak dat. Yer Ma's gittin' better ev'ry day, de doctor done
tole me so."
" Do you think so, Nelse ? " There was an eagerness
and yearning in the child's voice, that would have moved
the heart of a stone.
" Cose I does. She be strong en well in little while
when cole wedder comes. Fros' '11 soon be here. I see
whar er ole rabbit been er eatin' on my turnip tops.
Dat's er sho sign. I gwine make you er rabbit box ter-
morrer ter ketch dat rabbit."
"Will you, Nelse?"
" Sho's you bawn. Now des lemme pick you er chune
on dis banjer 'fo I goes ter my wuk."
Of all the music he had ever heard, the boy thought
Nelse's banjo was the sweetest. He accompanied the
music in a deep bass voice which he kept soft and sooth-
ing. The boy sat entranced. With wide open eyes and
half parted lips he dreamed his mother was well, and
then that he had grown to be a man, a great man, rich
and powerful. Now he was the Governor of the state,
living in the Governor's palace, and his mother was pre-
siding at a banquet in his honour. He was bending
proudly over her and whispering to her that she was the
most beautiful mother in the world. And he could hear
her say with a smile,
"You dear boy!"
Suddenly the banjo stopped, and Nelse railed with
mock severity, " Now look at 'im er cryin' ergin, en me
er pickin' de eens er my fingers off fur 'im ! "
" No, I aint cryin'. I am just listenin' to the music.
Nelse, you're the greatest banjo player in the world!"
" Na, honey, hits de banjer. Dats de Jo-bloin'est ban-
54 The Leopard's Spots
jer ! En des ter t'ink — er Yankee gin 'er to me in de wah !
Dat wuz the fus' Yankee I ebber seed hab sense ernuf
tcr own er ban jer. I kinder hate ter fight dem Yankees
atter dat."
" But Nelse, if you were fighting with our men how
did you get close to any Yankees ? "
" Lawd child, we's.allers slippin' out twixt de lines
atter night er carryin' on wid dem Yankees. We trade
'em terbaccer fur coffee en sugar, en play cyards, en
talk twell mos' day sometime. I slip out fust in er patch
er woods twix' de lines, en make my ban jer talk. En den
yere dey cornel De Yankees fum one way en our boys
de yudder. I make out lak I doan see 'em tall, des playin'
ter myself. Den I make dat ban jer moan en cry en talk
about de folks way down in Dixie. De boys creep up
closer en closer twell dey right at my elbow en I see 'em
cryin1, some un 'em — den I gin 'er a juk! en way she go
pluckety plunck ! en dey gin ter dance and laugh ! Some-
time dey cuss me lak dey mad en lam me on de back.
When dey hit me hard den I know dey ready ter gimme
all dey got."
" But how did you get this banjo, Nelse? "
" Yankee gin 'er ter me one night ter^try 'er, en when
he hear me des fairly pull de insides outen 'er, he 'low
dat hit 'ed be er sin ter ebber sep'rate us. Say he nebber
know what 'uz in er ban jer."
'Nelse rose to go.
" Now, honey, doan you cry no mo, en I make you
dat rabbit box sho, en erlong 'bout Chris'mas I gwine
larn you how ter shoot."
"Will you let me hold the gun?" the boy eagerly
tlked.
" I del sh6 you how ter poke yo gun In de crack er
de fence en whisper ter de trigger* Den look out birds
tn rabbit* I "
The Hem of* Orild
55
boy's sooL To bira die days were
I :
bea
56 The Leopard's Spots
going to live in it with me. and I am to take care of
you as long as you live."
" I expect you will marry some pretty girl, and almost
forget your old Mama who will be getting grey."
" But I'll never love anybody like I love you, Mama
dear!"
His little arms slipped around her neck, held her close
for a moment, and then he tenderly kissed her.
After supper he sought Nelse.
" Nelse, we must work out the flowers in the lawn.
Mama wants to see them. It was all I could do to keep
her from going out there to-day."
" Lawd chile, hit'll take two niggers er week ter clean
out dat lawn. Hits gone fur dis year. Yer Ma'll know
dat, honey."
The next morning after breakfast the boy found a
hoe, and in the piercing sun began manfully to work at
those flowers. He had worked perhaps, a half hour. His
face was red with heat and wet with sweat. He was
tired already and seemed to make no impression on the
wilderness of weeds and grass.
Suddenly he looked up and saw his mother smiling
at him.
" Come here, Charlie ! " she called.
He dropped his hoe and hurried to her side. She
caught him in her arms and kissed the sweat drops from
his eyes and mouth.
" You are the sweetest boy in the world ! "
What music to his soul these words to the last day of
his life!
" I was afraid when you saw all these weeds you would
cry about your flowers. Mama."
" It does hurt me, dear, to see them, but it's worth all
their loss to see you out there in the broiling sun working
§0 hard to please me, I've seen the most beautiful flower
The Heart of a Quid 57
this morning that ever blossomed on my lawn!— and its
perfume will make sweet my whole life. I am going to
be brave and live for you now."
And she kissed him fondly again.
CHAPTER VIII
AN EXPERIMENT IN MATRIMONY
NELSE was informed by the Agent of the Freed-
man's Bureau when summoned before that tri-
bunal that he must pay a fee of one dollar for a
marriage license and be married over again.
" What's dat ? Dis yer war bust up me en Eve's mar-
ryin'?"
" Yes," said the Agent. " You must be legally mar-
ried."
Nelse chucked on a brilliant scheme that flashed
through his mind.
" Den I see you ergin 'bout dat," he said as he hastily
took his leave.
He made his way homeward revolving his bril-
liant scheme. " But won't I fetch dat nigger Eve down
er peg er two ! I gwine ter make her t'ink I won' marry
her nohow. I make 'er ax my pardon fur all dem little
disergreements. She got ter talk mighty putty now sho
nuf ! " And he smiled over his coming triumph.
It was four o'clock in the afternoon when he reached
his cabin door on the lot back of Mrs. Gaston's home.
Eve was busy mending some clothes for their little boy
now nearly five years old.
" Good evenin', Miss Eve ! "
Eve looked up at him with a sudden flash of her eye.
" What de matter wid you nigger? "
" Nuttin' tall. Des drapped in lak ter pass de time
58
.-_ :
= :
6o The Leopard's Spots
" Yas, I niin's dat sho ! " said Eve with evident satis-
faction.
" Doan you wish you nebber done dat? "
"You black debbil!"
" Dat's hit ! I'se er bad nigger, M'am, — bad nigger fo'
de war. En I'se gittin' wuss en wuss," Nelse chuckled.
She looked at him with gathering rage and con-
tempt.
" En den fudder mo, M'am, I doan lak de way you
talk ter me sometimes. Yo voice des kinder takes de
skin off same's er file. I laks ter -hear er 'oman's voice
lak my Missy's, des es sof es wool. Sometime one word
from her keep me warm all winter. De way you talk
sometime make me cole in de summer time."
Nelse rose while Eve sat motionless.
" I des call, M'am, ter drap er little intment inter dem
years er yourn, dat'll percerlate froo you min', en when
I calls ergin I hopes ter be welcome wid smiles."
Nelse bowed himself out the door in grandiloquent
style.
All the afternoon he was laughing to himself over
his triumph, and imagining the welcome when he re-
turned that evening with his marriage license and the
officer to perform the ceremony. At supper in the kitchen
he was polite and formal in his manners to Eve. She
eyed him in a contemptuous sort of way and never spoke
unless it was absolutely necessary.
It was about half past eight when Nelse arrived at
home with the license duly issued and the officer of the
Bureau ready to perform the ceremony.
" Des wait er minute here at de corner, sah, twell I
kinder breaks de news to 'em, "said Nelse to the officer.
He approached the cabin door and knocked.
It was shut and fastened. He got no response.
He knocked loudly again.
An Experiment in Matrimony 61
Eve thrust her head out the window.
" Who's dat?"
" Hits me, M'am, Mister Nelson Gaston, Irse call ter
see you."
" Den you hump yo'se'f en git away from dat do, you
rascal."
" De Lawd, honey, Fse des been er foolin' you ter day.
I'se got dem licenses en de Euro man right out dar now
ready ter marry us. You know yo ole man nebber gwine
back on you — I des been er foolin'."
" Den you been er foolin' wid de wrong nigger ! "
" Lawd, honey, doan keep de bridegroom er waitinV
" Git er way from dat do ! "
" Glong chile, en quit yer projeckinY' Nelse was
using his softest and most persuasive tones now.
"G'way from dat do!"
" Come on, Eve, de man waitin' out dar fur us ! "
" Git away I tells you er I scald you wid er kittle cr
hot water!" 9
Nelse drew back slightly from the door.
" But, honey, whar yo ole man gwine ter sleep ? "
" Dey's straw in de barn, en pine shatters in de dog
house ! " she shouted slamming the window.
"Eve, honey!"—
" Doan you come honeyin' me, Fse er spec'able 'ornan
I is. Ef you wants ter marry me you got ter come cotin'
me in de day time fust, en bring me candy, en ribbins
en flowers and sich, en you got ter talk purtier'n you
ebber talk in all yo bora days. Lots er likely lookin'
niggers come settin up ter me while you gone in dat wah,
en I keep studin' Tx>ut yon, you big black rascal. Now
you got ter hump yo'se'f ef you eber see de inside er
dis cabin ergin."
Crestfallen Nelse returned to the officer.
" Wan sah, deys er kinder hitch in de perceedias."
6* The Leopard's Spots
"What's the matter?"
" She low I got ter come cotin' her fust. En I spec
I if/'
The officer laughed and returned to his home. She
made Nelse sleep in the barn for three weeks, court her
an hour every day, and bring her five cents worth of red
stick candy and a bouquet of flowers as a peace offering
at every visit. Finally she made him write her a note and
ask her to take a ride with him. Nelse got Charlie
to write it for him, and made his own boy carry it to
his mother. After three weeks of humility and attention
to her wishes, she gave her consent, and they were duly
married again.
CHAPTER IX
A MASTER OF MEN
f | HIE finfc Monday in October was court dap at
-*• of r««gAJI county, the peopfe flocked to town.
— — * * __ i - ^__ ~~ ~ ~ "~ ~ ~ ~ _~i - ~ - - •- r * * ~ ~z.
"fcnnrtv^TTMppfly IBB "where las DKTOS and UTQDJDC
were sooo to at CM judges bench and in attorney s
~~ - ~ " ^ " * - _j" _ " "~ -_-----——- -J "^ t"-.I.
:i :_ : .1: i : : r 1:;- .:'.i: .::- /. i : •.'.-- :-i : .t ::;
. : . . . * : : ' . : _~..i" i \. ::..:.-'-.
: g-.r: : '. .."::."-: ::r i r_t _:•: rirjrr.t
_ _ " 1 1 _ - 1 : '-'.'- - ; " . .."- t r I
^^^ _ - - -- ^ - .— ^-^^«^ ^ -'- - - --. "- -"_- — - " -
.7 ; I . t -r .:::: _- .- --:- -- ~
• __'^L_ ii i~~-~.rLr
A.
r. - - : . —
to town on the first dzj. The streets
: " " : r i " '. - ~- '-'--.
:f :-:-: L-i-.t'. T :-:-
:f 7: :-..-.-.
' .'. : t r." -.- ". ::."..: : - I. ~v
i r I -IT. : :
64 The Leopard's Spots
black hair, now iron grey. His face was ruddy with the
glow of perfect health and his full round lips and the
twinkle of his eye showed him to be a lover of the
good things of life. He wore a heavy moustache
which seemed a fitting ballast for the lower part of his
face against the heavy projecting straight eyebrows and
bushy hair.
As he shook hands with his old soldiers his face was
wreathed in smiles, his eyes flashed with something like
tears and he had a pleasant word for all.
Tom Camp was one of the first to spy the General and
hobble to him as fast as his peg-leg would carry him.
" Howdy, General, howdy do ! Lordy it's good for
sore eyes ter see ye ! " Tom held fast to his hand and
turning to the crowd said,
" Boys, here's the best General that ever led a brigade,
and there wasn't a man in it that wouldn't a died for him.
Now three times three cheers ! " And they gave it with a
will.
" Ah ! Tom you're still at your old tricks," said the
General. "What are you after now?"
" A speech General ! " — " A speech ! A speech ! " the
crowd echoed.
The General slapped Tom on the back and said,
" What sort of a job is this you're putting up on me —
I'm no orator! But I'll just say to you, boys, that this
old peg-leg here was the finest soldier that I ever saw
carry a musket and the men who stood beside him were
the most patient, the most obedient, the bravest men that
ever charged a foe and crowned their General with glory
while he safely stood in the rear."
Again a cheer broke forth. The General was hurry-
ing toward the court house, when he was suddenly sur-
rounded by a crowd of negroes. In the front ranks were
a hundred of his old slaves who had worked on his
A Master of Men 65
Campbell county plantation. They seized his hands and
laughed and cried and pleaded for recognition like a
crowd of children. Most of them he knew. Some of
their faces he had forgotten.
" Hi dar, Marse Dan'l, you knows me ! Lordy, I'se
your boy Joe dat used ter ketch yo hoss down at the
plantation ! "
" Of course, Joe ! Of course."
" I know Marse Dan'l aint forget old Uncle Rube,"
said an aged negro pushing his way to the front.
" That I haven't Reuben! and how's Aunt Julie Ann? ''
" She des tollable, Marse Dan'l. We'se bof un us had
de plumbago. How is you all sence de wah ? "
" Oh ! first rate, Reuben. We manage somehow to get
enough to eat and if we do that nowadays we can't com-
plain."
" Dats de God's truf, Marster sho ! En now Marse
Dan'l, we all wants you ter make us er speech en 'splain
erbout dis freedom ter us. Dey's so many dese yere
Buroers en Leaguers round here tellin' us niggers what's
er coming', twell we des doan know nuttin' fur sho. "
" Yassir dat's hit ! You tell us er speech Marse Dan'l ! "
The white men crowded up nearer and joined in the
cry. There was no escape. In a few moments the court
house was filled with a crowd.
When he arose a cheer shook the building, and strange
as it may seem to-day, it came with almost equal en-
thusiasm from white and black.
" I thank you, my friends," said the General, " for this
evidence of your confidence. I was a Whig in politics.
I reckon I hated a Democrat as God hates sin. I was a
Union man and fought Secession. My opponents won.
My state asked me to defend her soil. As an obedient
son I gave my life in loyal service.
" I need not tell you as a Union man that I am glad
66 The Leopard's Spots
this war is over. I have always felt as a busi-
ness man, a cotton manufacturer as well as farmer,
in touch with the free labour of the North as well as the
slave labour of the South, that free labour was the most
economical and efficient. I believe that terrible as the
loss of four billions of dollars in slaves will be to the
South, if the South is only let alone by the politicians
and allowed to develop her resources, she will become
what God meant her to be, the garden of the world. I
say it calmly and deliberately, I thank God that slavery
is a thing of the past."
A whirlwind of applause arose from the negroes.
Uncle Reuben's voice could be heard above the din.
" Hear dat ! You niggers ! Dat's my ole Marster
talkin' now ! "
" Let me say to the negroes here to-day, this war was
not fought for your freedom by the North, and yet in
its terrific struggle, God saw fit to give you freedom.
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are now yours
and the birthright of your children.
" We need your labour. Be honest, humble, patient, in-
dustrious and every white man in the South will be your
friend. What you need now is to go to work with all
your might, build a roof over your head, get a few acres
of land under your feet that is your own, put decent
clothes on your back, and some money in the bank, and
you will become indispensable to the people of the South.
They will be your best friends and give you every right
and privilege you are prepared to receive.
• " The man who tells you that your old Master's land
will be divided among you, is a criminal, or a fool, or
both. If you ever own land, you will earn it in the
sweat of your brow like I got mine."
" Hear dat now, niggers ! " cried old Reuben.
" The man who tells you that you are going to be
A Master of Men 67
given the ballot indiscriminately with which you can rule
your old masters is a criminal or a fool, or both. It is
insanity to talk about the enfranchisement of a million
slaves who can not read their ballots. Mr. Lincoln who
set you free was opposed to any such measure.
" Let me read an extract from a letter Mr. Lincoln
wrote me just before the war."
The General drew from his pocket a letter in the hand-
writing of the President and read: —
" MY DEAR WORTH : — You must hold the Union men
of the South together at all hazards. The one passion
of my soul is to save the Union. In answer to the
question you ask me about the equality of the races I
enclose you a newspaper clipping reporting my reply to
Judge Douglas at Charleston, Sept. 18, 1858. I could
not express myself more plainly. Have this extract pub-
lished in every paper in the South you can get to print it."
The General paused and turning toward the negroes
said,
"Now listen carefully to every word. Says Mr. Lin-
coln,
/ am not, nor ever have been in favour of bringing
about in any zvay the social and political equality of the
white and black races! (here is marked applause from a
Northern audience.) / am not, nor ever have been in
favour of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of
qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with
white people. I will say in addition to this that there
is a physical difference between the white and black races
which I believe will forever forbid the two races living
together on terms of social and political equality: and in-
asmuch as they can not so live, while they do remain to-
gether, there must be the position of the inferior and
68 The Leopard s Spots
superior, and I am, as much as any other man, in favour
of having the superior position assigned to the white
race.
" This was Lincoln's position and is the position of
nine-tenths of the voters of his party. It is insanity to
believe that the Anglo-Saxon race at the North can ever
be so blinded by passion that they can assume any other
position.
" Slavery is dead for all time. It would have been
destroyed whatever the end of the war. I know some of
the secrets of the diplomatic history of the Confederacy.
General Lee asked the government at Richmond to
enlist 200,000 negroes to defend the South, which he
declared was their country as well as ours, and grant
them freedom on enlistment. General Lee's request was
ultimately accepted as the policy of the Confederacy
though too late to save its waning fortunes. Not only
this, but the Confederate government sent a special am-
bassador to England and France and offered them the
pledge of the South to emancipate every slave in return
for the recognition of the independence of the Confeder-
acy. But when the ambassador arrived in Europe, the
lines of our army had been so broken, the governments
were afraid to interfere.
" The man who tells you that your old masters are
your enemies and may try to reinslave you is a wilful
and malicious liar. "
" Hear dat, folks ! " yelled old Reuben as he waved
his arm grandly toward the crowd.
" To the white people here to-day, I say be of good
cheer. Let politics alone for awhile and build up your
ruined homes. You have boundless wealth in your soil.
God will not forget to send the rain and the dew and
the sun. You showed yourselves on a hundred fields
ready to die for your country. Now I ask you to do
A Master of Men 69
something braver and harder. Live for her when it is
hard to live. Let cowards run, but let the brave stand
shoulder to shoulder and build up the waste places
till our country is once more clothed in wealth and
beauty. "
The General bowed in closing to a round of applause.
His soldiers were delighted with his speech and his
old slaves revelled in it with personal pride. But the
rank and file of the negroes were puzzled. He did
not preach the kind of doctrine they wished to hear. They
had hoped freedom meant eternal rest, not work. They
had dreamed of a life of ease with government rations
three times a day, and old army clothes to last till they
put "on the white robes above and struck their golden
harps in paradise. This message the General brought
was painful to their newly awakened imaginations.
As the General passed through the crowd he met the
Ex-Provisional Governor, Amos Hogg, busy with the
organising work of his Leagues.
" Glad to see you General," said Hogg extending his
hand with a smile on his leathery face.
" Well, how are you, Amos, since Macon pulled your
wool ? "
" Never felt better in my life, General. I want a few
minutes' talk with you."
"All right, what is it?"
" General, you're a progressive man. Come, you're
flirting with the enemy. The truly loyal men must get
together to rescue the state from the rebels who have it
again under their heel."
" So Macon's a rebel because he licked you ? "
"You know the rebel crowd are running this state,"
said Hogg.
" Why, Hogg you were the biggest fool Secessionist I
ever saw, and Macon and I were staunch Union men.
7O The Leopard's Spots
We had to fight you tooth and nail. You talk about
the truly loyal ! "
"Yes but, General, I've repented. I've got my face
turned toward the light."
" Yes, I see, — the light that shines in the Governor's
Mansion."
" I don't deny it. ' Great men choose greater sins, am-
bition's mine/ Come into this Union movement with me,
Worth, and I'll make you the next Governor."
" I'll see you in hell first. No, Amos, we don't belong
to the same breed. You were a Secessionist as long as
it paid. When the people you had misled were being
overwhelmed with ruin, and it no longer paid, you de-
serted and became ' loyal ' to get an office. Now ycfu're
organising the negroes, deserters, and criminals into your
secret oath-bound societies. Union men when the war
came fought on one side or the other, because a Union
man was a man, not a coward. If he felt his state
claimed his first love, he fought for his native soil. The
gang of plugs you are getting together now as ' truly
loyal ' are simply cowards, deserters, and common crim-
inals who claim they were persecuted as Union men. It's
a weak lie."
" We'll win," urged Hogg.
" Never ! " the General snorted, and angrily turned on
his heel. Before leaving he wheeled suddenly, faced
Hogg and said,
" Go on with your fool societies. You are sowing the
wind. There'll be a lively harvest. I am organising too.
I'm organising a cotton mill, rebuilding our burned fac-
tory, borrowing money from the Yankees who licked us
to buy machinery and give employment to thousands of
our poor people. That's the way to save the state. We've
got water power enough to turn the wheels of the
world."
A Master of Men 71
" You'll need our protection in the fight that's coming,"
replied Hogg, with a straight look that meant much.
The General was silent a moment. Then he shook his
fist in Hogg's face and slowly said,
" Let me tell you something. When I need protection
I'll go to headquarters. I've got Yankee money in my
mills and I can get more if I need it. You lay your dirty
claws on them and I'll break your neck. "
CHAPTER X
THE MAN OR BRUTE IN EMBRYO
TWO months later General Worth, while busy re-
building his mills at Independence, had served
on him a summons to appear before the Agent
of the Freedman's Bureau at Hambright and answer the
charge of using " abusive language " to a freedman.
The particular freedman who desired to have his feel-
ings soothed by law was a lazy young negro about sixteen
years old whom the General had ordered whipped and
sent from the stables into the fields on one occasion dur-
ing the war while on a visit to his farm. Evidently
the boy had a long memory.
" Now don't that beat the devil ! " exclaimed the Gen-
eral.
" What is it? " asked his foreman.
" I've got to leave my work, ride on an old freight
train thirty miles, pull through twenty more miles of red
mud in a buggy to get to Hambright, and lose four days,
to answer such a charge as that before some little wizen-
eyed skunk of a Bureau Agent. My God, it's enough to
make a Union man remember Secession with regrets ! "
" My stars, General, we can't get along without you
now when we are getting this machinery in place. Send
a lawyer," growled the foreman.
" Can't do it, John — I'm charged with a crime."
" Well, I'll swear ! "
"Do the best you can, I'll be back in four days, if
72
The Man or Brute in Embryo 73
I don't kill a nigger ! " said the General with a smile.
" I've got a settlement to make with the farm hands any-
how."
There was no help for it. When the court convened,
and the young negro saw the face of his old master red
with wrath, his heart failed him. He fled the town and
there was no accusing witness.
The General gazed at the Agent with cold contempt
and never opened his mouth in answer to expressions
of regret at the fiasco.
A few moments later he rode up to the gate of his
farm house on the river hills about a mile out of town.
A strapping young fellow of fifteen hastened to open
the gate.
"Well, Allan, my boy, how are you?"
" First rate, General. We're glad to see you ! but we
didn't make a half crop, sir, the niggers were always
in town loafing around that Freedman's Bureau, holding
meetings all night and going to sleep in the fields."
" Well, show me the books," said the General as they
entered the house.
The General examined the accounts with care and then
looked at young Allan McLeod for a moment as though
he had made a discovery.
" Young man, you've done this work well."
" I tried to, sir. If the niggers dispute anything, I
fixed that by making the store-keepers charge each item
in two books, one on your account, and one on an account
kept separate for every nigger."
" Good enough. They'll get up early to get ahead of
you."
" I'm afraid they are going to make trouble at the
Bureau, sir. That Agent's been here holding Union
League meetings two or three nights every week, and
he's got every nigger under his thumb."
74 The Leopard's Spots
" The dirty whelp ! " growled the General.
" If you can see me out of the trouble, General, I'd
like to jump on him and beat the life out of him next
time he comes out here ! " \
The General frowned.
" Don't you touch him, — any more than you would
a pole cat. I've trouble enough just now."
" I could knock the mud out of him in two minutes,
if you say the word," said Allan eagerly.
"Yes, I've no doubt of it." The General looked at
him thoughtfully.
He* was a well knit powerful youth just turned his
fifteenth birthday. He had red hair, a freckled face, and
florid complexion. His features were regular and pleas-
ing, and his stalwart muscular figure gave him a hand-
some look that impressed one with indomitable physical
energy. His lips were full and sensuous, his eyebrows
straight, and his high forehead spoke of brain power as
well as horse power.
He had a habit of licking his lips and running his
tongue around inside of his cheeks when he saw any-
thing or heard anything that pleased him that was far
from intellectual in its suggestiveness. When he did this
one could not help feeling that he was looking at a young
well fed tiger. There was no doubt about his being alive
and that he enjoyed it. His boisterous voice and ready
laughter emphasised this impression.
" Allan, my boy," said the General when he had ex-
amined his accounts, " if you do everything in life as well
as you did these books, you'll make a success."
" I'm going to do my best to succeed, General. I'll
not be a poor white man. Ill promise you that. "
" Do you go to church anywhere ? "
" No sir, Maw's not a member of any church, and it's
so far to town I don't go."
The Man or Brute in Embryo 75
"Well, you must go. You must go to the Sunday
School too, and get acquainted with all the young folks.
I'll speak to Mrs. Durham and get her to look after you."
"All right, sir, I'll start next Sunday." Allan was
feeling just then in a good humour with himself and all
the world. The compliment of his employer had so elated
him, he felt fully prepared to enter the ministry if the
General had only suggested it.
The following day was appointed for a settlement of
the annual contract with the negroes. The Agent of the
Freedman's Bureau was the judge before whom the Gen-
eral, his overseer, and clerk of account, and all the negroes
assembled.
If the devil himself had devised an instrument for
creating race antagonism and strife he could not have
improved on this Bureau in its actual workings. Had
clean handed, competent agents been possible it might
have accomplished good. These agents were as a rule
the riff-raff and trash of the 'North. It was the supreme
opportunity of army cooks, teamsters, fakirs, and broken
down preachers who had turned insurance agents. They
were lifted from penury to affluence and power. The pos-
sibility of corruption and downright theft were practically
limitless.
The Agent at Hambright had been a preacher in Michi-
gan who lost his church because of unsavory rumours
about his character. He had eked out a living as a book
agent, and then insurance agent. He was a man of some
education and had a glib tongue which the negroes readily
mistook for inspired eloquence. He assumed great dig-
nity and an extraordinary judicial tone of voice when
adjusting accounts.
General Worth submitted his accounts and they showed
that all but six of the fifty negroes employed had a little
overdrawn their wages in provisions and clothing.
76 The Leopard's Spots
" I think there is a mistake, General, in these accounts/'
said the Rev. Ezra Perkins the Agent.
" What? " thundered the General.
" A mistake in your view of the contracts," answered
Ezra in his oiliest tone.
The negroes began to grin and nudge one another,
amid exclamations of " Dar now ! " " Hear dat ! "
" What do you mean ? The contracts are plain. There
can be but one interpretation. I agreed to furnish the
men their supplies in advance and wait until the end of
the year for adjustment after the crops were gathered. As
it is, I will lose over five hundred dollars on the farm."
The General paused and looked at the Agent with rising
wrath.
" It's useless to talk. I decide that under this contract
you are to furnish supplies yourself and pay your people
their monthly wages besides. I have figured it out that
you owe them a little over fifteen hundred dollars."
" Fifteen hundred dollars ! You thief ! "
" Softly, softly ! — I'll commit you for contempt of
court ! "
The General turned on his heel without a word, sprang
on his horse, and in a few minutes alighted at the hotel.
He encountered the assistant agent of the Bureau on the
steps.
" Did you wish to see me, General? " he asked.
" No ! I'm looking for a man — a Union soldier not a
turkey buzzard ! " He dashed up to the clerk's desk.
" Is Major Grant in his room? "
" Yes, sir."
" Tell him I want to see him."
" What can I do for you, General Worth? " asked the
Major as he hastened to meet him.
" Major Grant, I understand you are a lawyer. You
YOU THIEF
The Man or Brute in Embryo 77
are a man of principle, or you wouldn't have fought.
When I meet a man that fought us I know I am talking
to a man, not a skunk. This greasy sanctified Bureau
Agent, has decided that I owe my hands fifteen hundred
dollars. He knows it's a lie. But his power is absolute.
I have no appeal to a court. He has all the negroes
under his thumb and he is simply arranging to steal this
money. I want to pay you a hundred dollars as a re-
tainer and have you settle with the Lord's anointed, the
Rev. Ezra Perkins for me."
" With pleasure, General. And it shall not cost you
a cent."
" I'll be glad to pay you, Major. Such a decision en-
forced against me now would mean absolute ruin. I
can't borrow another cent."
" Leave Ezra with me."
" Why couldn't they put soldiers into this Bureau if
they had to have it, instead of these skunks and wolves ? "
snorted the General.
" Well, some of them are a little off in the odour of
their records at home, I'll admit," said the Major with a
dry smile. " But this is the day of the carrion crow,
General. You know they always follow the armies. They
attack the wounded as well as the dead. You have my
heartfelt sympathy. You have dark days ahead ! The
death of Mr. Lincoln was the most awful calamity that
could possibly have "befallen the South. I'm sorry. I've
learned to like you Southerners, and to love these beautiful
skies, and fields of eternal green. It's my country and
yours. I fought you to keep it as the heritage of my
children."
The General's eyes filled with tears and the two men
silently clasped each other's hands.
" Send in your accounts by your clerk. I'll look them
7* The Leopard's Spots
over to-night and I've no doubt the Honourable Reverend
Ezra Perkins will see a new light with the rising of to-
morrow's sun/'
And Ezra did see a new light. As the Major cursed
him in all the moods and tenses he knew, Ezra thought
he smelled brimstone in that light.
" I assure you, Major, I'm sorry the thing happened.
My assistant did all the work on these papers. I hadn't
time to give them personal attention," the Agent apolo-
gised in his humblest voice.
" You're a liar. Don't waste your breath."
Ezra bit his lips and pulled his Mormon whiskers.
" Write out your decision now — this minute — confirm-
ing these accounts in double quick order, unless you are
looking for trouble."
And Ezra hastened to do as he was bidden.
The next day while the General was seated on the porch
of the little hotel discussing his campaigns with Major
Grant, Tom Camp sent for him.
Tom took the General round behind his house, with
grave ceremony.
" What are you up to, Tom? "
" Show you in a minute ! I wish I could make you a
handsomer present, General, to show you how much I
think of you. But I know yer weakness anyhow. There's
the finest lot er lightwood you ever seed. "
Tom turned back some old bagging and revealed a
pile of fat pine chips covered with rosin, evidently
chipped carefully out of the boxed place of live pine
trees.
The General had two crochets, lightwood and water-
power. When he got hold of a fine lot of lightwood
suitable for kindling fires, he would fill his closet with it,
conceal it under his bed, and sometimes under his mat-
The Man or Brute in Embryo 79
tress. He would even hide it in his bureau drawers
and wardrobe and take it out in little bits like a miser.
" Lord Tom, that beats the world ! "
"Ain't it fine? Just smell?"
" Rosin on every piece ! Tom, you cut every tree on
your place and every tree in two miles clean to get
that. You couldn't have made me a gift I would appre-
ciate more. Old boy, if there's ever a time in your life
that you need a friend, you know where to find me."
" I knowed ye'd like it ! " said Tom with a smile.
" Tom, you're a man after my own heart. You're feel-
ing rich enough to make your General a present when we
are all about to starve. You're a man of faith. So am
I. I say keep a stiff upper lip and peg away. The sun
still shines, the rains refresh, and water runs down hill
yet. That's one thing Uncle Billy Sherman's army
•couldn't do much with when they put us to the test of
fire. He couldn't burn up our water power. Tom, you
may not know it, but I do — we've got water power
enough to turn every wheel in the world. Wait till we
get our harness on it and make it spin and weave our
cotton, — we'll feed and clothe the human race. Faith's
my motto. I can hardly get enough to eat now, but
better times are coming. A man's just as big as his faith.
I've got faith in the South. I've got faith in the good
will of the people of the North. Slavery is dead.
They can't feel anything but kindly toward an enemy
that fought as bravely and lost all. We've got one
country now and it's going to be a great one. "
" You're right, General, faith's the word. "
" Tom, you don't know how this gift from you touches
me."
The General pressed the old soldier's hand with feel-
ing. He changed his orders from a buggy to a two-
horse team that could carry all his precious lightwood.
8o The Leopard's Spots
He filled the vehicle, and what was left he packed care-
fully in his valise.
He stopped his team in front of the Baptist parsonage
to see Mrs. Durham about Allan McLeod.
" Delighted to see you, General Worth. It's refreshing
to look into the faces of our great leaders, if they are still
outlawed as rebels by the Washington government."
"Ah, Madam, I need not say it is refreshing to see
you, the rarest and most beautiful flower of the old
South in the days of her wealth and pride ! And always
the same ! " The General bowed over her hand.
" Yes, I haven't surrendered yet."
" And you never will," he laughed.
"Why should I? They've done their worst. They
have robbed me of all. I've only rags and ashes left."
" Things might still be worse, Madam."
" I can't see it. There is nothing but suffering and
ruin before us. These ignorant negroes are now being
taught by people who hate or misunderstand us. They
can only be a scourge te society. I am heart-sick when
I try to think of the future ! "
There was a mist about her eyes that betrayed the
deep emotion with which she uttered the last sentence.
She was a queenly woman of the brunette type with
full face of striking beauty surmounted by a mass of
rich chestnut hair. The loss of her slaves and estate in
the war had burned its message of bitterness into her
soul. She had the ways of that imperious aristocracy
of the South that only slavery could nourish. She was
still uncompromising upon every issue that touched the
life of the past.
She believed in slavery as the only possible career for
a negro in America. The war had left her cynical on
the future of the new " Mulatto " nation as she called it,
born in its agony. Her only child had died during the
The Man or Brute in Embryo 81
war, and this great sorrow had not softened but rather
hardened her nature.
Her husband's career as a preacher was now a double
cross to her because it meant the doom of eternal pov-
erty. In spite of her love for her husband and her deter-
mination with all her opposite tastes to do her duty as
his wife, she could not get used to poverty. She hated
it in her soul with quiet intensity.
The General was thinking of all this as he tried to
frame a cheerful answer. Somehow he could not think of
anything worth while to say to her. So he changed the
subject.
" Mrs. Durham, I've called to ask your interest in your
Sunday School in a boy who is a sort of ward of mine,
young Allan McLeod."
" That handsome red-headed fellow that looks like
a tiger, I've seen playing in the streets ? "
" Yes, I want you to tame him."
" Well, I will try for your sake, though he's a little
older than any boy in my class. He must be over
fifteen."
" Just fifteen. I'm deeply interested in him. I am
going to give him a good education. His father was a
drunken Scotchman in my brigade, whose loyalty to me
as his chief was so genuine and touching I couldn't help
loving him. He was a man of fine intellect and some
culture. His trouble was drink. He never could get
up in life on that account. I have an idea tfiat he married
his wife while on one of his drunks. She is from down
in Robeson county, and he told me she was related to the
outlaws who have infested that section for years. This
boy looks like his mother, though he gets that red hair
and those laughing eyes from his father. I want you to
take hold of him and civilise him for me."
" I'll try, General. You know, I love boys."
82 The Leopard's Spots
" You will find him rude and boisterous at first, but I
think he's got something in him."
" I'll send for him to come to see me Saturday."
" Thank you, Madam. I must go. My love to Dr.
Durham."
The next Saturday when Mrs. Durham walked into
her little parlour to see Allan, the boy was scared nearly
out of his wits. He sprang to his feet, stammered and
blushed, and looked as though he were going to jump
out of the window.
Mrs. Durham looked at him with a smile that quite
disarmed his fears, took his outstretched hand, and held
it trembling in hers.
" I know we will be good friends, won't we? "
" Yessum," he stammered.
" And you won't tie any more tin cans to dogs like
you did to Charlie Gaston's little terrier, will you ? I like
boys full of life and spirit, just so they don't do mean
and cruel things."
The boy was ready to promise her anything. He was
charmed with her beauty and gentle ways. He thought
her the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in the
world.
As they started toward the door, she gently slipped
one arm around him, put her hand under his chin and
kissed him.
Then he was ready to die for her. It was the first kiss
he had ever received from a woman's lips. His mother
was not a demonstrative woman. He never recalled a
kiss she had given him. His blood tingled with the
delicious sense of this one's sweetness. All the afternoon
he sat out under a tree and dreamed and watched the
house where this wonderful thing had happened to him.
CHAPTER XI
SIMON LEGREE
IN the death of Mr. Lincoln, a group of radical poli-
ticians, hitherto suppressed, saw their supreme
opportunity to obtain control of the nation in the
crisis of an approaching Presidential campaign.
Now they could fasten their schemes of proscription,
confiscation, and revenge upon the South.
Mr. Lincoln had held these wolves at bay during his
life by the power of his great personality. But the Lion
was dead, and the Wolf, who had snarled and snapped
at him in life, put on his skin and claimed the heritage
of his power. The Wolf whispered his message of hate,
and in the hour of partisan passion became the master
of the nation.
Busy feet had been hurrying back and forth from the
Southern states to Washington whispering in the Wolf's
ear the stories of sure success, if only the plan of pro-
scription, disfranchisement of whites, and enfranchise-
ment of blacks were carried out.
This movement was inaugurated two years after the
war, with every Southern state in profound peace, and
in a life and death struggle with nature to prevent fam-
ine. The new revolution destroyed the Union a second
time, paralysed every industry in the South, and trans-
formed ten peaceful states into roaring hells of anarchy.
We have easily outlived the sorrows of the war.
That was a. surgery which healed ,the body. But the
83
84 The Leopard's Spots
child has not yet been born whose children's children
will live to see the healing of the wounds from those
four years of chaos, when fanatics blinded by passion,
armed millions of ignorant negroes and thrust them
into mortal combat with the proud, bleeding, half-
starving Anglo-Saxon race of the South. Such a deed
once done, can never be undone. It fixes the status of
these races for a thousand years, if not for eternity.
The South was now rapidly gathering into two hostile
armies under these influences, with race marks as uni-
forms— the Black against the White.
The Negro army was under the command of a tri-
umvirate, the Carpet-bagger from the North, the native
Scalawag and the Negro Demagogue.
Entirely distinct from either of j:hese was the genuine
Yankee soldier settler in the South after the war, who
came because he loved its genial skies and kindly people.
Ultimately some of these 'Northern settlers were forced
into politics by conditions around them, and they con-
stituted the only conscience and brains visible in public
life during the reign of terror which the " Reconstruc-
tion " regime inaugurated.
In the winter of 1866 the Union League at Hambright
held a meeting of special importance. The attendance
was large and enthusiastic.
Amos Hogg, the defeated candidate for Governor in
the last election, now the President of the Federation of
" Loyal Leagues," had sent a special ambassador to this
meeting to receive reports and give instructions.
This ambassador was none other than the famous
Simon Legree of Red River, who had migrated to North
Carolina attracted by the first proclamation of the Presi-
dent, announcing his plan for readmitting the state to
the Union. The rumours of his death proved a mistake.
He had quit drink, and set his mind on greater vices.
Simon Legree 85
In his face were the features of the distinguished
ruffian whose cruelty to his slaves had made him unique
in infamy in the annals of the South. He was now pre-
eminently the type of the "truly loyal". At the first
rumour of war he had sold his negroes and migrated
nearer the border land, that he might the better avoid
service in either army. He succeeded in doing this. The
last two years of the war, however, the enlisting officers
pressed him hard, until finally he hit on a brilliant
scheme.
He shaved clean, and dressed as a German emigrant
woman. He wore dresses for two years, did house work,
milked the cows and cut wood for a good natured old
German. He paid for his board, and passed for a sister,
just from the old country.
When the war closed, he resumed male attire, became a
violent Union man, and swore that he had been hounded
and persecuted without mercy by the Secessionist rebels.
He was looking more at ease now than ever in his life.
He wore a silk hat and a new suit of clothes made by a
fashionable tailor in Raleigh. He was a little older look-
ing than when he killed Uncle Tom on his farm some ten
years before, but otherwise unchanged. He had the same
short muscular body, round bullet head, light grey eyes
and shaggy eyebrows, but his deep chestnut bristly hair
had been trimmed by a barber. His coarse thick lips
drooped at the corners of his mouth and emphasised the
crook in his nose. His eyes, well set apart, as of old. were
bold, commanding, and flashed with the cold light of
glittering steel. His teeth that once were pointed like
the fangs of a wolf had been filed by a dentist But it
required more than the file of a dentist to smooth out
of that face the ferocity and cruelty that years of dis-
solute habits had fixed.
He was only forty-two years old, but the flabby flesh
86 The Leopard's Spots
under his eyes and his enormous square-cut jaw made
him look fully fifty.
It was a spectacle for gods and men, to see him ha-
rangue that Union League in the platitudes of loyalty to
the Union, and to watch the crowd of negroes hang
breathless on his every word as the inspired Gospel of
God. The only notable change in him from the old days
was in his speech. He had hired a man to teach him
grammar and pronunciation. He had high ambitions for
the future.
" Be of good cheer, beloved ! " he said to the negroes.
" A great day is coming for you. You are to rule this
land. Your old masters are to dig in the fields and you
are to sit under the shade and be gentlemen. Old Andy
Johnson will be kicked out of the White House or hung,
and the farms you've worked on so long will be divided
among you. You can rent them to your old masters and
live in ease the balance of your life. "
" Glory to God ! " shouted an old negro.
" I have just been to Washington for our great leader,
Amos Hogg. I've seen Mr. Sumner, Mr. Stevens and
Mr. Butler. I have shown them that we can carry any
state in the South, if they will only give you the ballot
and take it away from enough rebels. We have promised
them the votes in the Presidential election, and they are
going to give us what we want. "
" Hallelujah ! Amen ! Yas Lawd ! " The fervent ex-
clamations came from every part of the room.
After the meeting the negroes pressed around Legree
and shook his hand with eagerness — the same hand that
was red with the blood of their race.
When the crowd had dispersed a meeting of the lead-
ers was held.
Dave Haley, the ex-slave trader from Kentucky who
had dodged back and forth from the mountains of his
Simon Legrec 87
native state to the mountains of Western North Caro-
lina and kept out of the armies, was there. He had set-
tled in Hambright and hoped at least to get the post-
office under the new dispensation.
In the group was the full blooded negro, Tim Shelby.
He had belonged to the Shelbys of Kentucky, but had
escaped through Ohio into Canada before the war. He
had returned home with great expectations of revolutions
to follow in the wake of the victorious armies of the
North. He had been disappointed in the programme of
kindliness and mercy that immediately followed the fall
of the Confederacy ; but he had been busy day and night
since the war in organising the negroes, in secretly fur-
nishing them arms and wherever possible he had them
grouped in military posts and regularly drilled. He was
elated at the brilliant prospects which Legree's report
from Washington opened.
" Glorious news you bring us, brother ! " he exclaimed
as he slapped Legree on the back.
" Yes, and it's straight. "
"Did Mr. Stevens tell you so?"
" He's the man that told me."
" Well, you can tie to him. He's the master now that
rules the country," said Tim with enthusiasm.
" You bet he's runnin' it. He showed me his bill to
confiscate the property of the rebels and give it to the
truly loyal and the niggers. It's a hummer. You ought
to have seen the old man's eyes flash fire when he pulled
that bill out of his desk and read it to me."
"When will he pass it?"
" Two years, yet. He told me the fools up North were
not quite ready for it; and that he had two other bills
first, that would run the South crazy and so fire the North
that he could pass anything he wanted and hang old Andy
Johnson besides."
88 The Leopard's Spots
" Praise God," shouted Tim, as he threw his arms
around Legree and hugged him.
Tim kept his kinky hair cut close, and when excited
he had a way of wrinkling his scalp so as to lift his
ears up and down like a mule. His lips were big and
thick, and he combed assiduously a tiny moustache which
he tried in vain to pull out in straight Napoleonic style.
He worked his scalp and ears vigourously as he
exclaimed, " Tell us the whole plan, brother ! "
" The plan's simple," said Legree. " Mr. Stevens is
going to give the nigger the ballot, and take it from
enough white men to give the niggers a majority. Then
he will kick old Andy Johnson out of the White House,
put the gag en the Supreme Court so the South can't
appeal, pass his bill to confiscate the property of the
rebels and give it to loyal men and the niggers, and run
the rebels out."
" And the beauty of the plan is," said Tim with unc-
tion, " that they are going to allow the Negro to vote to
give himself the ballot and not allow the white man to
vote against it. That's what I call a dead sure thing. "
Tim drew himself up, a sardonic grin revealing his white
teeth from ear to ear, and burst into an impassioned ha-
rangue to the excited group. He was endowed with
native eloquence, and had graduated from a college
in Canada under the private tutorship of its pro-
fessors. He was well versed in English History. He
could hold an audience of negroes spell bound, and his
audacity commanded the attention of the boldest white
man who heard him.
Legree, Perkins and Haley cheered his wild utterances
and urged him to greater flights.
He paused as though about to stop when Legree, evi-
dently surprised and delighted at his powers said, " Go
on ! Go on ! "
Simon Legree 89
" Yes, go on," shouted Perkins. " We are done with
race and colour lines."
A dreamy look came to Tim's eyes as he continued,
" Our proud white aristocrats of the South are in a
panic it seems. They fear the coming power of the Negro.
They fear their Desdemonas may be fascinated again by
an Othello! Well, Othello's day has come at last. If
he has dreamed dreams in the past his tongue dared not
speak, the day is fast coming when he will put these
dreams into deeds, not words.
" The South has not paid the penalties of her crimes.
The work of the conqueror has not yet been done in this
land. Our work now is to bring the proud low and exalt
the lowly. This is the first duty of the conqueror.
" The French Revolutionists established a tannery
where they tanned the hides of dead aristocrats into
leather with which they shod the common people. This
was France in the eighteenth century with a thousand
years of Christian culture.
" When the English army conquered Scotland they
hunted and killed every fugitive to a man, tore from the
homes of their fallen foes their wives, stripped them
naked, and made them follow the army begging bread,
the laughing stock and sport of every soldier and camp
follower! This was England in the meridian of Anglo-
Saxon intellectual glory, the England of Shakespeare who
was writing Othello to please the warlike populace.
" I say to my people now in the language of the in-
spired Word, ' All things are yours ! ' I have been drill-
ing and teaching them through the Union League, the
young and the old. I have told the old men that they
will be just as useful as the young. If they can't carry a
musket they can apply the torch when the time comes.
And they are ready now to answer the call of the Lord ! "
They crowded around Tim and wrung his hand.
9O The Leopard's Spots
Early in 1867, two years after the war, Thaddeus
Stevens passed through Congress his famous bill de-
stroying the governments of the Southern states, and di-
viding them into military districts, enfranchising the
whole negro race, and disfranchising one-fourth of the
whites. The army was sent back to the South to enforce
these decrees at the point of the bayonet. The authority
of the Supreme Court was destroyed by a supplementary
act and the South denied the right of appeal. Mr.
Stevens then introduced his bill to confiscate the property
of the white people of the South. The negroes laid
down their hoes and plows and began to gather in ex-
cited meetings. Crimes of violence increased daily. Not
a night passed but that a burning barn or home wrote its
message of anarchy on the black sky.
The negroes refused to sign any contracts to work, to
pay rents, or vacate their houses on notice even from the
Freedman's Bureau.
The negroes on General Worth's plantation, not only
refused to work, or move, but organised to prevent any
white man from putting his foot on the land.
General Worth procured a special order from the head-
quarters of. the Freedman's Bureau for the district lo-
cated at Independence. When the officer appeared and
attempted to serve this notice, the negroes mobbed
him.
A company of troops were ordered to Hambright, and
the notice served again by the Bureau official accompan-
ied by the Captain of this company.
The negroes asked for time to hold a meeting and dis-
cuss the question. They held their meeting and gathered
fully five hundred men from the neighbourhood, all armed
with revolvers or muskets. They asked Legree and Tim
Shelby to tell them what they should do. There was no
Simon Legree 91
uncertain sound in what Legree said. He looked over the
crowd of eager faces with pride and conscious power.
" Gentlemen, your duty is plain. Hold your land. It's
yours. You've worked it for a lifetime. These officers
here tell you that old Andy Johnson has pardoned General
Worth and that you have no rights on the land without
his contract. I tell you old Andy Johnson has no right
to pardon a rebel, and that he will be hung before another
year. Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner and B. F.
Butler are running this country. Mr. Stevens has never
failed yet on anything he has set his hand. He has prom-
ised to give you the land. Stick to it. Shake your fist
in old Andy Johnson's face and the face of this Bureau
and tell them so. "
" Dat we will ! " shouted a negro woman, as Tim
Shelby rose to speak.
" You have suffered," said Tim. " Now let the white
man suffer. Times have changed. In the old days the
white man said,
" John, come black my boots ! "
" And the poor negro had to black his boots. I expect
to see the day when I will say to a white man, " Black my
boots ! " And the white man will tip his hat and hurry
to do what I tell him. "
" Yes, Lawd ! Glory to God ! Hear dat now ! "
" We will drive the white men out of this country.
That is the purpose of our friends at Washington.
If white men want to live in the South they can become
our servants. If they don't like their job they can move
to a more congenial climate. You have Congress on
your side, backed by a million bayonets. There is no
President. The Supreme Court is chained. In San Do-
mingo no white man is allowed to vote, hold office, or
hold a foot of land. We will make this mighty South a
more glorious San Domingo. "
92 The Leopard's Spots
A frenzied shout rent the air. Tim and Legree were
carried on the shoulders of stalwart men in triumphant
procession with five hundred crazy negroes yelling and
screaming at their heels.
The officers made their escape in the confusion and
beat a hasty retreat to town. They reported the situation
to headquarters, and asked for instructions.
CHAPTER XII
RED SNOW DROPS
THE spirit of anarchy was in the tainted air. The
bonds that held society were loosened. Gov-
ernment threatened to become organised crime
instead of the organised virtue of the community.
The report of crimes of unusual horror among the
ignorant and the vicious began now to startle the world.
The Rev. John Durham on his rounds among the poor
discovered a little negro boy whom the parents had aban-
doned to starve. His father had become a drunken loafer
at Independence and the Freedman's Bureau delivered
the child to his mother and her sister who lived in a
cabin about two miles from Hambright, and ordered them
to care for the boy.
A few days later the child had disappeared. A search
was instituted, and the charred bones were found in an
old ash heap in the woods near this cabin. The mother
had knocked him in the head and burned the body in a
drunken orgie with dissolute companions.
The sense of impending disaster crushed the hearts of
thoughtful and serious people. One -of the last acts of
Governor Macon, whose office was now under the con-
trol of the military commandant at Charleston, South
Carolina, was to issue a proclamation, appointing a day
of fasting and prayer to God for deliverance from the
ruin that threatened the state under the dominion of
Legree and the negroes.
It was a memorable day in the history of the people.
03
£4 The Leopard's Spots
In many places they met in the churches the night before,
and held all-night watches and prayer meetings. They
felt that a pestilence worse than the Black. Death of the
Middle Ages threatened to extinguish civilisation.
The Baptist church at Hambright was crowded
to the doors with white-faced women and sorrowful
men.
About ten o'clock in the morning, pale and haggard
from a sleepless night of prayer and thought, the Preacher
arose to address the people. The hush of death fell as he
gazed silently over the audience for a moment. How
pale his face! They had never seen him so moved with
passions that stirred his inmost soul. His first words
were addressed to God. He did not seem to see the people
before him.
" Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all gen-
erations.
" Before the mountains were brought forth or ever
Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from
everlasting to everlasting Thou art God ! "
The people instinctively bowed their heads, fired by the
subtle quality of intense emotion the tones of his voice
communicated, and many of the people were already in
tears.
" Thou turnest man to destruction : and sayest, return,
ye children of men."
" Who knowest the power of thine anger ? "
"Return, O Lord, how long? and let it repent Thee
concerning Thy servants."
" Beloved," he continued, " it was permitted unto
your fathers and brothers and children to die for their
country. You must live for her in the black hour of
despair. There will be no roar of guns, no long lines
of gleaming bayonets, no flash of pageantry or martial
music to stir your souls.
Red Snow Drops 95
" You are called to go down, man by man, alone, naked
and unarmed in the blackness of night and fight with the
powers of hell for your civilisation.
" You must look this question squarely in the face.
You are to be put to the supreme test. You are to stand
at the judgment bar of the ages and make good your
right to life. The attempt is to be deliberately made to
blot out Anglo-Saxon society and substitute African bar-
barism.
" A few years ago a Southern Representative in a
stupid rage knocked Charles Sumner down with a cane
and cracked his skull. Now it is this poor cracked brain,
mad with hate and revenge, tfiat is attempting to blot the
Southern states from the map of the world and build
Negro territories on their ruins. In the madness of party
passions, for the first time in history, an anarchist, Thad-
deus Stevens, has obtained the dictatorship of a great
Constitutional Government, hauled down its flag and
nailed the Black Flag of Confiscation and Revenge to its
masthead.
" The excuse given for this, that the lawmakers of the
South attempted to reinslave the Negro by their enact-
ments against vagrants and provisions for apprenticeship,
is so weak a lie, it will not deserve the notice of a future
historian. Every law passed on these subjects since the
abolition of slavery was simply copied from the codes of
the Northern states where free labour was the basis of
society. .
" Lincoln alone, with his great human heart and broad
statesmanship could have saved us. But the South had
no luck. Again and again in the war, victory was within
her grasp, and an unseen hand snatched it away. In the
hour of her defeat the bullet of a madman strikes down
the great President, her last refuge in ruin!
" God alone is our help. Let us hold fast to our faith
9$ The Leopard's Spots
in Him. We can only cry with aching hearts in the
language of the Psalmist of old, ' How long, O Lord ?
how long ! '
" The voices of three men now fill the world with their
bluster — Charles Sumner, a crack-brained theorist ; Thad-
deus Stevens, a club footed misanthrope, and B. F. Butler,
a triumvirate of physical and mental deformity. Yet
they are but the cracked reeds of a great organ that peals
forth the discord of a nation's blind rage. When the
storm is past, and reason rules passion, they will be flung
into oblivion. We must bend to the storm. It is God's
will."
The people left the church with heavy hearts. They
were hopelessly depressed. In 'the afternoon, as the
churches were being slowly emptied, groups of negroes
stood on the corners talking loudly and discussing
the meaning of this new Sunday so strangely observed.
It began to snow. It was late in March and this was
an unusual phenomenon in the South.
The next morning the earth was covered with four
inches of snow, that glistened in the sun with a strange
reddish hue. On examination it was found that every
snow drop had in it a tiny red spot that looked like a
drop of blood ! Nothing of the kind had ever been seen
before in the history of the world, so far as any one
knew.
This freak of nature seemed a harbinger of sure and
terrible calamity. Even the most cultured and thought-
ful could not shake off the impression it made.
The Preacher did his best to cheer the people in his
daily intercourse with them. His Sunday sermons
seemed in these darkest days unusually tender and hope-
ful. It was a marvel to those who heard his bitter and
sorrowful speech on the day of fasting and prayer, that
he could preach such sermons as those which followed.
Red Snow Drops 97
Occasionally old Uncle Joshua Miller would ask him to
preach for the negroes in their new church on Sun-
day afternoons. He always went, hoping to keep some
sort of helpful influence over them in spite of their new
leaders and teachers. It was strange to watch this man
shake hands with these negroes, call them familiarly by
their names, ask kindly after their families, and yet carry
in his heart the presage of a coming irreconcilable conflict.
For no one knew more clearly than he, that the issues
were being joined from the deadly grip of that con-
flict of races that would determine whether this Republic
would be Mulatto or Anglo-Saxon. Yet at heart he had
only the kindliest feelings for these familiar dusky faces
now rising a black storm above the horizon, threatening
the existence of civilised society, under the leadership
of Simon Legree, and Mr. Stevens.
It seemed a joke sometimes as he thought of it, a huge,
preposterous joke, this actual attempt to reverse the order
of nature, turn society upside down, and make a thick-
lipped, flat-nosed negro but yesterday taken from the
jungle, the ruler of the proudest and strongest* race of
men evolved in two thousand years of history. Yet when
he remembered the fierce passions in the hearts of the
demagogues who were experimenting with this social dy-
namite, it was a joke that took on a hellish, sinister
meaning.
CHAPTER XIII
DICK
WHEN Charlie Gaston reached his home after a
never-to-be-forgotten day in the woods with
the Preacher, he found a ragged little dirt-
smeared negro boy peeping through the fence into the
woodyard.
"What you want?" cried Charlie.
" Nuttin ! "
"What's your name?"
"Dick." '
"Who's your father?"
" Haint got none. My mudder say she was tricked,
en I'se de trick ! " he chuckled and walled his eyes.
Charlie came close and looked him over. Dick giggled
and showed the whites of his eyes.
" What made that streak on your neck ? "
" Nigger done it wid er axe."
"What nigger?"
" Low life nigger name er Amos what stays roun' our
house Sundays."
"What made him do it?"
" He low he wuz me daddy, en I sez he wuz er liar, en
den he grab de axe en try ter chop me head off."
" Gracious, he 'most killed you ! "
" Yassir, but de doctor sewed me head back, en hit
grow'd."
"Goodness me!"
98
Dick 99
"Say!" grinned Dick.
"What?"
" I likes you."
"Do you?"
" Yassir, en I aint gwine home no mo*. I done run
away, en I wants ter live wid you."
" Will you help me and Nelse work ? "
" Dat I will. I can do mos' anyting. You ax yer Ma
fur me, en doan let dat nigger Nelse git holt er me."
Charlie's heart went out to the ragged little waif. He
took him by the hand, led him into the yard, found
his mother, and begged her to give him a place to sleep
and keep him.
His mother tried to persuade him to make Dick go back
to his own home. Nelse was loud in his objections to the
new comer, and Aunt Eve looked at him as though she
would throw him over the fence.
But Dick stuck doggedly to Charlie's heels.
" Mama dear, see, they tried to cut his head off with an
axe," cried the boy, and he wheeled Dick around and
showed the terrible scar across the back of his neck.
" I spec hits er pity dey didn't cut hit clean off," mut-
tered Nelse.
" Mama, you can't send him back to be killed ! "
" Well, darling, I'll see about it to-morrow."
" Come on Dick, I'll show you where to sleep ! "
The next day Dick's mother was glad to get rid of him
by binding him legally to Mrs. Gaston, and a lonely boy
found a playmate and partner in work, he was never to
forget.
CHAPTER XIV
THE NEGRO UPRISING
THE summer of 1867! Will ever a Southern man
or woman who saw it forget its scenes? A
group of oath-bound secret societies, The Union
League, The Heroes of America, and The Red Strings
dominating society, and marauding bands of negroes
armed to the teeth terrorising the country, stealing, burn-
ing and murdering.
Labour was not only demoralised, it had ceased to exist
Depression was universal, farming paralysed, invest-
ments dead, and all property insecure. Moral obligations
were dropping away from conduct, and a gulf as deep as
hell and high as heaven opening between the two races.
The negro preachers openly instructed their flocks to
take what they needed from their white neighbours.
If any man dared prosecute a thief, the answer was a
burned barn or a home in ashes.
The wildest passions held riot at Washington. The
Congress of the United States as a deliberative body
under constitutional forms of government no longer ex-
isted. The Speaker of the House shook his fist at the
President and threatened openly to hang him, and he
was arraigned for impeachment for daring to exercise
the constitutional functions of his office !
The division agents of the Freedman's Bureau in the
South sent to Washington the most alarming reports,
declaring a famine imminent. In reply the vindictive
leaders levied a tax of fifteen dollars a bale on cotton,
100
The Negro Uprising 101
plunging thousands of Southern farmers into immediate
bankruptcy and giving to India and Egypt the mastery
of the cotton markets of the world!
Congress became to the desolate South what Attila, the
" Scourge of God " was to civilised Europe.
The Abolitionists of the North, whose conscience was
the fire that kindled the Civil War, rose in solemn pro-
test against this insanity. Their protest was drowned
in the roar of multitudes maddened by demagogues who
were preparing for a political campaign.
Late in August Hambright and Campbell county were
thrilled with horror at the report of a terrible crime. A
whole white family had been murdered in their home,
the father, mother and three children in one night, and
no clue to the murderers could be found.
Two days later the rumour spread over the country that
a horde of negroes heavily armed were approaching
Hambright burning, pillaging and murdering.
All day terrified women, some walking with babes in
their arms, some riding in old wagons and carrying what
household goods they could load on them, were hurry-
ing with blanched faces into the town.
By night five hundred determined white men had
answered an alarm bell and assembled in the court house.
Every negro save a few faithful servants had disappeared.
A strange stillness fell over the village.
Mrs. Gaston sat in her house without a light, looking
anxiously out of the window, overwhelmed with the sense
of helplessness. Charlie, frightened by the wild stories
he had heard, was trying in spite of his fears to comfort
her.
"Don't cry, Mama!"
" I'm not crying because I'm afraid, darling, I'm only
crying because your father is not here to-night. I can't
get used to living without him to protect us."
102 The Leopard's Spots
" I'll take care of you, Mama — Nelse and me."
"Where is Nelse?"
" He's cleaning up the shot gun."
" Tell him to come here."
When Nelse approached his Mistress asked,
" Nelse, do you really think this tale is true ? "
" No, Missy, I doan believe nary word uf it. Same
time I'se gettin' ready fur 'em. Ef er nigger come foolin'
roun' dis house ter night, he'll t'ink he's run ergin er
whole regiment ! I hain't been ter wah fur nuttin'."
" Nelse, you have always been faithful. I trust you
implicitly."
" De Lawd, Missy, dat you kin do ! I fight fur you
en dat boy till I drap dead in my tracks ! "
" I believe you would. "
" Yessum, cose I would. En I wants dat swo'de er
Marse Charles to-night, Missy, en Charlie ter help me
sharpen 'im on de grine stone."
She took the sword from its place and handed it to
Nelse. Was there just a shade of doubt in her heart as
she saw his black hand close over its hilt as he drew
it from the scabbard and felt its edge ! If so she gave no
sign.
Charlie turned the grindstone while Nelse proceeded
to violate the laws of nations by putting a keen edge
on the blade.
" Nebber seed no sense in dese dull swodes nohow ! "
"Why ain't they sharp, Nelse?"
" Doan know, honey. Marse Charles tell me de law
doan 'low it, but dey sho hain't no law now ! "
" We'll sharpen it, won't we, Nelse ? " whispered the
boy as he turned faster.
" Dat us will, honey. En den you des watch me mow
niggers ef dey come er prowlin' round dis house ! "
" Did you kill many Yankees in the war, Nelse ? "
The Negro Uprising 103
" Doan know, honey, spec I did."
" Are you going to take the gun or the sword ? "
" Bofe um 'em chile. I'se gwine ter shoot er pair
er niggers fust, en den charge de whole gang wid dis
swode. Hain't nuttin' er nigger's feard uf lak er keen
edge. Wish ter God I had a razer long es dis swode!
I'd des walk clean froo er whole army er niggers wid
guns. Man, hit 'ud des natchelly be er sight! Day'd
slam dem guns down en bust demselves open gittin'
outen my way ! "
When the sun rose next morning the bodies of ten
negroes lay dead and wounded in the road about a mile
outside of town. The pickets thrown out in every di-
rection had discovered their approach about eleven o'clock.
They were allowed to advance within a mile. There
were not more than two hundred in the gang, dozens of
them were drunk, and like the Sepoys of India, they
were under the command of a white Scalawag. At the
first volley they broke and fled in wild disorder. Their
leader managed to escape.
This event cleared the atmosphere for a few weeks ; and
the people breathed more freely when another company
of army regulars marched into the town and camped in
the school grounds of the old academy.
CHAPTER XV
THE NEW CITIZEN KING
OF all the elections ever conducted by the English
speaking race the one held under the " Recon-
struction " act of 1867 in the South was the
most unique.
Ezra Perkins the agent of the Freedman's Bureau
issued a windy proclamation to the new citizens to come
forward on a certain day to register and receive their
' elective franchise.'
The negroes poured into town from every direction
from early dawn. Some carried baskets, some carried
jugs, and some were pushing wheelbarrows, but most of
them had an empty bag. They were packed around the
Agency in a solid black mass.
Nelse laughed until a crowd gathered around him.
" Lordy, look at dem bags ! " he shouted. " En dars
ole Ike wid er jug., He's gwine ter take hisen in licker.
En bress God dars er fool wid er wheel-barer ! " Nelse
lay down and rolled with laughter.
They failed to see the joke, and when the Agency
was opened they made a break for the door, trampling
each other down in a mad fear that there wouldn't be
enough ' elective franchise ' to go round !
The first negro who emerged from the door came
with a crestfallen face and an empty bag on his arm.
He was surrounded by anxious inquirers. " What wuz
hit?"
104
The New Citizen King 105
" Muffin. Des stan up dar befo' er man wid big
whiskers en he make me swar ter export de Constertu-
tion er de Nunited States er Nor'f Calliny.
When Nelse appeared Perkins looked at him a moment
and asked,
" Are you a member of the Union League ? "
" Dat I hain't."
" Then stand aside and let these men register. If you
want to vote you had better join."
Nelse made no reply, but in a short time he returned
with the Rev. John Durham by his side. He was al-
lowed to register, but from that day he was a marked
man among his race.
When the registration closed Perkins was in high glee.
" We've got 'em, Timothy ! It's a dead sure thing ! "
he cried as he slipped his arm around Tim's shoulder.
" Will the majority be big? " asked Tim.
" If it ain't big enough we'll disfranchise more aristo-
crats and enfranchise the dogs. " Tim wondered whether
this proposition was altogether flattering.
During the progress of the campaign, a committee
from the organisation of the " truly loyal," Ezra Perkins
and Dave Haley, called on Tom Camp.
" Mr. Camp, we want your help as a leader among the
poor white people to save the country from these rebel
aristocrats who have ruined it," said Ezra.
" You're barkin' up the wrong tree ! " answered Tom
dryly.
" The poor men have got to stand together now and
get their rights."
" Well if I've got to stand with niggers, have 'em hug
me and blow their breath in my face, as you fellers are
doin', you can count me out ! — and if that's all you want
with me, you'll find the door open."
Haley tried his hand.
106 The Leopard's Spots
" Look here, Camp, we ain't got no hard feelin's agin
you, but there's agoin' to be trouble for every rebel in
this county who don't git on our side and do it quick."
" I'm used to trouble pardner," replied Tom.
" You've got a nice little cabin home and ten acres of
land. Fight us, and we will give this house and lot to
a nigger."
" I don't believe it," cried Tom.
" Come, come," said Perkins, " you're not fool enough
to fight us when we've got a dead sure thing, a majority
fixed before the voting begins, Congress and the whole
army back of us ? "
* I ain't er nigger ! " said Tom, doggedly.
"What's the use to be a fool Camp," cried Haley.
" We are just using the nigger to stick the votes in the
box. He thinks he's goin' to heaven, but we'll ride him
all the way up to the gate and hitch him on the outside.
Will you come in with us ? "
" Don't like your complexion ! " he answered rising
and going toward the door.
" Then we'll turn you out into the road in less than
two years," said Haley as they left.
" All right ! " laughed the old soldier, " I slept on the
ground four years, boys."
When he came back into the room he met his wife with
tears in her eyes. " Oh ! Tom, I'm afraid they'll do what
they say."
" To tell you the truth, ole woman, I'm afraid so too.
But we're in the hands of the Lord. This is His house.
If He wants to take it away from me now when I'm
crippled and helpless, He knows what's best."
" I wish you didn't have to go agin Jem."
" I ain't er nigger, ole gal, and I don't flock with
niggers. If God Almighty had meant me to be one He'd
have made my skin black. "
The New Citizen King 107
On election day no publication of the polling places
had been made. Ezra Perkins had in charge the whole
county. He consolidated the fifteen voting precincts
into three and located these in negro districts. He noti-
fied only the members of the secret Leagues where these
three voting places were to be found, and other people
were allowed to find them on the day of the election as
best they could.
Perkins made himself the poll holder at Hambright
though he was a candidate for member of the Constitu-
tional Convention, and the poll holders were allowed to
keep the ballots in their possession for three days before
forwarding to the General in command at Charleston,
South Carolina.
Scores of negroes, under the instructions of their lead-
ers, voted three times that day. Every negro boy fairly
well grown was allowed to vote and no questions asked
as to his age.
Nelse approached the polls attempting to cast a vote
against the Rev. Ezra Perkins the poll holder. A crowd
of infuriated negroes surrounded him in a moment.
" Kill 'im ! Knock 'im in the head ! De black debbil,
votin' agin his colour ! "
Nelse threw his big fists right and left and soon had an
open space in the edge of which lay a half dozen negroes
scrambling to get to their feet.
The negroes formed a line in front of him and the
foremost one said,
" You try ter put dat vote in de box we bust yo head
open ! "
Nelse knocked him down before he got the words
well out of him mouth. " Honey, I'se er bad nigger ! "
he shouted with a grin as he stepped back and started to
rush the line.
Perkins ordered the guard to arrest him.
io8 The Leopard's Spots
As the guard carried Nelse away a crowd of angry
negroes followed grinning and cursing.
" We lay fur you yit, ole hoss ! " was their parting
word as he disappeared through the jail door.
That night at the supper table in the hotel at Ham-
bright an informal census of the voters was taken. There
were present at the table a distinguished ex- judge, two
lawyers, a General, two clergymen, a merchant, a farmer,
and two mechanics. The only man of all allowed to
vote that day was the negro who waited on the table.
Thus began the era of a corrupt and degraded ballot
in the South that was to bring forth sorrow for genera-
tions yet unborn. The intelligence, culture, wealth, social
prestige, brains, conscience and the historic institutions
of a great state had been thrust under the hoof of ig-
norance and vice.
The votes were sent to the military commandant at
Charleston and the results announced. The negroes had
elected no representatives and the whites 10. It was
gravely announced from Washington that a " republican
form of government " had at last been established in
North Carolina*
CHAPTER XVI
LEGREE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
THE new government was now in full swing and
a saturnalia began. Amos Hogg was Governor,
Simon Legree Speaker of the House, and the
Hon. Tim Shelby leader of the majority on the floor
of the House.
Raleigh, the quaint little City of Oaks, never saw such
an assemblage of law-makers gather in the grey stone
Capitol.
Ezra Perkins, who was a member of the Senate,
was frugal in his habits and found lodgings at
an unpretentious boarding house near the Capitol square.
The room was furnished with six iron cots on which
were placed straw mattresses and six honourable mem-
bers of the new Legislature occupied these. They were
close enough together to allow a bottle of whiskey to
be freely passed from member to member at any hour
of the night. They thought the beds were arranged with
this in view and were much pleased.
Ezra was the only man of the crowd who arrived in
Raleigh with a valise or trunk. He had a carpet bag.
The others simply had one shirt and a few odds and
ends tied in red bandana handkerchiefs.
Three of them had walked all the way to Raleigh and
kept in the woods from habit as deserters. The other
two rode on the train and handed their tickets to the
first stranger they saw on the platform of the car they
boarded.
109
HO The Leopard's Spots
" What's this for ! " said the stranger.
"Them's our tickets. Ain't you the door keeper?"
" No, but there ought to be one to every circus. You'll
have one when you get to Raleigh."
The landlady, Mrs. Duke, apologised for the poor beds,
when she showed them to their room. " I'm sorry, gentle-
men, I can't give you softer beds."
" That's all right M'am ! them's fine. Us fellows been
sleeping in the woods and in straw stacks so long dodgin'
ole Vance's officers, them white sheets is the finest thing
we've seed in four years, er more."
They were humble and made no complaints. But at
the end of the week they gathered around the Rev. Ezra
Perkins for a grave consultation.
" When are we goin' ter draw ? " said one.
" Air we ever goin' ter draw ? " asked another with
sorrow and doubt.
" What are we here f er ef we cain't draw ? " pleaded
another looking sadly at Ezra.
" Gentlemen," answered Ezra, " it will be all right in a
little while. The Treasurer is just cranky. We can
draw our mileage Monday anyhow."
At daylight they took their places on the bank's steps,
and at ten o'clock when the bank opened, the doors were
besieged by a mob of members painfully anxious to draw
before it might be too late.
Next morning there was a disturbance at the breakfast
table. The morning paper had in blazing head lines an
account of one James " Mileage," who was a member of
the Legislature from an adjoining county thirty-seven
miles distant. He had sworn to a mileage record of one
hundred and seven dollars.
" That's an unfortunate mistake, sir," said Perkins.
" Ten' ter yer own business ? " answered James " Mile-
age."
Legree Speaker of the House in
" I call it er purty f sharp trick," grinned his
partner.
" I call it stealin'," sneered an honourable member,
evidently envious.
And James " Mileage " was his name for all time, but
" Mileage " shot a malicious look at the member who
had called him a thief.
The next morning the paper of the Opposition had an-
other biographical sketch on the front page.
" I see your name in the paper this morning, Mr. Scog-
gins ? " remarked Mrs. Duke, looking pleasantly at the
member who had spoken so rudely to James " Mileage "
the day before.
" Well I reckon I'll make my mark down here before
it's over," chuckled Scoggins with pride. " What do they
say about me, M'am ? "
" They say you stole a lot of hogs ! " tittered the land-
lady.
Mr. Scoggins turned red.
" Oho, is there another thief in this hon'able body ? "
sneered James "Mileage."
" That's all a lie, M'am, 'bout them hogs. I didn' steal
'em. I just pressed 'em from a Secessiner."
" Jes so," said James " Mileage," " but they say you
were a deserter at the time, and not exactly in the service
of your country. "
" Ye can't pay no 'tention ter rebel lies ergin Union
men ! " explained Scoggins, eating faster.
" Yes, that's so," said James " Mileage," " but there's
another funny thing in the paper about you."
" What's that ? " cried Scoggins with new alarm.
" That Mr. Scoggins met Sherman's army with loud
talk about lovin' the Union, but that a mean Yankee
officer gave him a cussin' fur not fightin' on one side or
the other, took all that bacon he had stolen, hung him
H2 The Leopard's Spots
up by the heels, gave him thirty lashes and left him
hanging in the air. "
" It's a lie ! It's a lie ! " bellowed Scoggins.
" Gentlemen ! Gentlemen ! we must not have such be-
haviour at my table ! " exclaimed Mrs. Duke.
And " Hog " Scoggins was his name from that day.
By the end of the week another painful story was
printed about one of this group of statesmen. The news-
paper brutally declared that he had been convicted of
stealing a rawhide from a neighbour's tanyard. It could
not be denied. And then a sad thing happened. The
moral sentiment of the little community could not endure
the strain. It suddenly collapsed. They laughed at these
incidents of the sad past and agreed that they were
jokes. They began to call each other James " Mileage,"
" Hog " Scoggins, and " Rawhide " in the friendliest
way, and dared a scornful world to make them feel
ashamed of anything!
But the Rev. Ezra Perkins was pained by this break-
down. He felt that being safely removed two thousand
miles from his own past, he might hope for a future.
" Mrs. Duke," he complained to his landlady, " I will
have to ask you to give me a room to myself. I'll pay
double. I want quiet where I can read my Bible and
meditate occasionally."
" Certainly Mr. Perkins, if you are willing to pay for
it."
It was so arranged. But this assumption of moral su-
periority by Perkins grieved " Mileage," " Hog " and
" Rawhide," and a coolness sprang up between them,
until they found Ezra one night in his place of meditation
dead drunk and his room on fire. He had gone to sleep
in his chair with his empty bottle by his side, and knocked
the candle over on the bed. Then they agreed that for-
ever after they would all stand together, shoulder to
Legree Speaker of the House 113
shoulder, until they brought the haughty low and exalted
the lowly and the " loyal."
Tim Shelby early distinguished himself in this august
assemblage. His wit and eloquence from the first com-
manded the admiration of his party.
When he had fairly established himself as leader, he
rose in his seat one day with unusual gravity. His scalp
was working his ears with great rapidity showing his
excitement.
He had in his hands a bill on which he had spent months
in secret study. He had not even hinted its contents
to any of his associates. Under the call for bills his
voice rang with deep emphasis.
"Mr. Speaker!"
Legree gave him instant recognition.
" I desire to introduce the following : " A Bill to be
Entitled An Act to Relieve Married Women from the
Bonds of Matrimony when United to Felons, and to De-
fine Felony."
A page hurried to the Reading Clerk with his bill.
The hum of voices ceased. The five or six representa-
tives of the white race left their desks and walked quickly
toward the Speaker. The Clerk read in a loud clear
voice.
" The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact :
I That all citizens of the State who took part in the
Rebellion and fought against the Union, or held office
in the so called Confederate States of America, shall be
held guilty of felony, and shall be forever debarred from
voting or holding office."
II " That the married relations of all such felons are
hereby dissolved and their wives absolutely divorced, and
said felons shall be forever barred from contracting mar-
riage or living under the same roof with their former
wives."
114 The Leopard's Spots
Instantly four Carpet-bagger members of some educa-
tion rushed for Tim's seat. " Withdraw that bill, man,
quick ! My God, are you mad ! " they all cried in a
breath.
Tim was dazed by this unexpected turn, and grinned
in an obstinate way.
" I can't see it gentlemen. That bill will kill out the
breed of rebels and fix the status of every Southern state
for five hundred years. It's just what we need to make
this state loyal."
" You pass that bill and hell will break loose I "
" How so, brother ? Ain't we on top and the rebels on
the bottom ? Ain't the army here to protect us ? " per-
sisted Tim.
There was a brief consultation among the little group
in opposition and the leader said,
" Mr. Speaker, I move that the bill be at once printed
and laid on the desk of the members for considera-
tion."
Tim was astonished at this move of his enemy. Le-
gree looked at him and waited his pleasure.
" Mr. Speaker, I withdraw that bill for the present,"
he said at length.
That night the wires were hot tietween Washington
and Raleigh, and the entire power of Congress was hurled
upon the unhappy Tim. His bill was not only suppressed
but the news agencies were threatened and subsidised
to prevent accounts of its introduction being circulated
throughout the country.
Tim decided to lay this measure over until Congress
was off his hands, and the state's, autonomy fully rec-
ognised. Then he would dare interference. In the
meantime he turned his great mind to financial matters.
His success here was overwhelming.
His first measure was to increase the per diem of the
Legree Speaker of the House 115
members from three to seven dollars a day. It passed
with a whoop.
Uncle Pete Sawyer a coal-black fatherly looking old
darkey from an Eastern county made himself immortal
in that debate.
" Mistah Speakah ! " he bawled drawing himself up
with great dignity, and holding a pen in his left hand
as though he had been writing. " What do dese white
gem 'men mean by ezposen dis bill? Ef we doan pay de
members enuf, dey des be erbleeged ter steal. Hit aint
right, sah, ter fo'ce de members er dis hon'able body ter
prowl atter dark when day otter be here 'tendin' ter de
business o' de country. En I moves you, sah. Mistah
Speakah, dat dese rema'ks er mine be filed in de arkibes
er grabity ! "
They were filed and embalmed in the archives of
gravity where they will remain a monument to their au-
thor and his times.
As Tim's great financial measures made progress, the
members began to wear better clothes, assumed white
linen shirts, had their shoes blacked, and put on the airs
of overworked statesmen.
When they had used up all the funds of the state in
mileage and per diem, they sold and divided the school
fund, railroad bonds worth a half million, for a hundred
thousand ready cash. It was soon found that Simon Le-
gree, the Speaker of the House, was the master of financial
measures and Tim Shelby was his mouthpiece.
Legree organised three groups of thieves composed of
the officials needed to perfect the thefts in every branch
of the government while he retained the leadership of
the federated groups. The Treasurer, who was an honest
man, was stripped of power by a special act.
The Capitol Ring merely picked up the odds and ends
about the Capitol building. They refurnished the Legis-
u6 The Leopard's Spots
lative Halls. They spent over two hundred thousand
dollars for furniture, and when it was appraised, its value
was found to be seventeen thousand dollars at the prices
they actually paid for it. The Ring stole one hundred
and seventy thousand dollars on this item alone.
An appropriation of three hundred thousand dollars
was made for " supplies, sundries and incidentals." With
this they built a booth around the statue of Washington
at the end of the Capitol and established a bar with fine
liquors and cigars for the free use of the members and
their friends. They kept it open every day and night
during their reign, and in a suite of rooms in the Capitol
they established a brothel. From the galleries a swarm
of courtesans daily smiled on their favourites on the
floor.
The printing had never cost the state more than eight
thousand dollars in any one year. This year it cost four
hundred and eighty thousand. Legree drew thousands
of warrants on the state for imaginary persons. There
were eight pages in the House. He drew pay for one
hundred and fifty-six pages. In this way he raised an
enormous corruption fund for immediate use in bribing
the lawmakers to carry through his schemes.
The Railroad Ring was his most effective group of
brigands.
They passed bills authorising the issue of twenty-five
millions of dollars in bonds, and actually issued and stole
fourteen millions, and never built one foot of railroad.
When Legree's movement was at its high tide, Ezra
Perkins sought Uncle Pete Sawyer one night in behalf
of a pet measure of his pending in the House.
Peter was seated by his table counting by the light
of a candle three big piles of gold.
His face was wreathed in smiles.
Legree Speaker of the House 117
" Peter, you seem well pleased with the world to-
night ? " said Ezra gleefully.
" Well, brudder, you see dem piles er yaller money ? "
" Yes, it is a fine sight."
Uncle Pete smacked his lips and grinned from ear
to ear.
" Well, brudder, I tells you. I ben sol' seben times
in my life, but 'fore Gawd dat's de fust time I ebber
got de money ! "
Uncle Pete dreamed that night that Congress passed
a law extending the blessings of a " republican form of
government " to North Carolina for forty years and that
the Legislature never adjourned.
But the Legislature finally closed, and in a drunken
revel which lasted all night. They had bankrupted the
state, destroyed its school funds, and increased its debt
from sixteen to forty-two millions of dollars, without
adding one cent to its wealth or power.
Legree then organised a Municipal and County Ring
to exploit the towns, cities, and counties, having passed
a bill vacating all county and city offices.
This Ring secured the control of Hambright and levied
a tax of twenty-five per cent for municipal purposes!
Tom Camp's little home was assessed for eighty-five
dollars in taxes. Mrs. Gaston's home was assessed for
one hundred and sixty dollars. They could have raised
a million as easily as the sum of these assessments.
It cost the United States government two hundred
millions of dollars that year to pay the army required to
guard the Legrees and their " loyal " men while they
were thus establishing and maintaining " a republican
form of government " in the South.
CHAPTER XVII
THE SECOND REIGN OF TERROR
IT was the bluest Monday the Rev. John Durham ever
remembered in his ministry. A long drought had
parched the corn into twisted and stunted little
stalks that looked as though they had been burnt in a
prairie fire. The fly had destroyed the wheat crop and
the cotton was dying in the blistering sun of August,
and a blight worse than drought, or flood, or pestilence,
brooded over the stricken land, flinging the shadow of its
Black Death over every home. The tax gatherer of the
new " republican form of government," recently estab-
lished in North Carolina now demanded his pound of
flesh.
The Sunday before had been a peculiarly hard one for
the Preacher. He had tried by the sheer power of per-
sonal sympathy to lift the despairing people out of their
gloom and make strong their faith in God. In his morn-
ing sermon he had torn his heart open and given
them its red blood to drink. At the night service he
could not rally from the nerve tension of the morning.
He felt that he had pitiably failed. The whole day seemed
a failure black and hopeless.
All day long the sorrowful stories of ruin and loss of
homes were poured into his ear.
The Sheriff had advertised for sale for taxes two
thousand three hundred and twenty homes in Campbell
county. The land under such conditions had no value.
118
The Second Reign of Terror 119
It was only a formality for the auctioneer to cry it and
knock it down for the amount of the tax bill.
As he arose from bed with the burden of all this
hopeless misery crushing his soul, a sense of utter ex-
haustion and loneliness came over him.
" My love, I must go back to bed and try to sleep.
I lay awake last night until two o'clock. I can't eat
anything," he said to his wife as she announced break-
fast.
"John, dear, don't give up like that."
" Can't help it."
" But you must. Come, here is something that will
tone you up. I found this note under the front door this
morning."
"What is it?"
" A notice from some of your admirers that you must
leave this county in forty-eight hours or take the conse-
quences."
He looked at this anonymous letter and smiled.
" Not such a failure after al1, am I? " he mused.
" I thought that would help you," she laughed.
"Yes, I can eat breakfa:.; on the strength of
that."
He spread this letter out beside his plate, and read
and reread it as he ate, while his eyes flashed with a
strange half humourous light.
"Really, that's fine, isn't it?" "You sower of sedi-
tion and rebellion, hypocrite and false prophet. The day
has come to clean this county of treason and traitors. If
you dare to urge the pcopi j to further resistance to au-
thority, there will be one traitor less in this county."
" That sounds like the voice of a Daniel come to judg-
ment, don't it?"
" I think Ezra Perkins might know something about it."
" I am sure of it."
120 The Leopard's Spots
" Well, I'm duly grateful, it's done for you what yuir
wife couldn't do, cheered you up this morning."
" That is so, isn't it ? It takes a violent poison some-
times to stimulate the heart's action."'
" Now if you will work the garden for me, where I've
been watering it the past month, you will be yourself
by dinner time."
" I will. That's about all we've got to eat. I've had
no salary in two months, and I've no prospects for the
next two months."
He was at work in the garden when Charlie Gaston
suddenly ran through the gate toward him. His face
was red, his eyes streaming with tears, and his breath
coming in gasps.
"Doctor, they've killed Nelse! Mama says please
come down to our house as quick as you can."
"Is he dead, Charlie?"
" He's most dead. I found him down in the woods
lying in a gully, one leg is broken, there's a big gash over
his eye, his back is beat to a jelly, and one of his arms
is broken. We put him in the wagon, and hauled him
to the house. I'm afraid he's dead now. Oh me ! " The
boy broke down and choked with sobs.
" Run, Charlie, for the doctor, and I'll be there in a
minute."
The boy flew through the gate to the doctor's house.
When the Preacher reached Mrs. Gaston's, Aunt Eve
was wiping the blood from Nelse's mouth.
" De Lawd hab mussy ! My po' ole man's done kilt."
"Who could have done this, Eve?"
" Dem Union Leaguers. Dey say dey wuz gwine ter
kill him fur not jinin' 'em, en fur tryin' ter vote ergin
'em."
" I've been afraid of it," sighed the Preacher as he
felt Nelse's pulse.
The Second Reign of Terror 121
" Yassir, en now dey's done hit. My po' ole man. I
wish I'd a been better ter 'im. Lawd Jesus, help me
now!"
Eve knelt by the bed and laid her face against Nelse's
while the tears rained down her black face.
" Aunt Eve, it may not be so bad," said the Preacher
hopefully. " His pulse is getting stronger. He has an
iron constitution. I believe he will pull through, if
there are no internal injuries."
" Praise God ! ef he do git well, I tell yer now, Marse
John, I fling er spell on dem niggers bout dis ! "
" I am afraid you can do nothing with them. The
courts are all in the hands of these scoundrels, and the
Governor of the state is at the head of the Leagues."
" I doan want no cotes, Marse John, I'se cote ennuf.
I kin cunjure dem niggers widout any cote."
The doctor pronounced his injuries dangerous but not
necessarily fatal. Charlie and Dick watched with Eve
that night until nearly midnight. Nelse opened his eyes,
and saw the eager face of the boy, his eyes yet red from
crying.
" I aint dead, honey ! " he moaned.
"Oh! Nelse, I'm so glad!"
" Doan you believe I gwine die ! I gwine ter git eben
wid dem niggers 'fore I leab dis worl'."
Nelse spoke feebly, but there was a way about his
saying it that boded no good to his enemies, and Eve
was silent. As Nelse improved, Eve's wrath steadily
rose.
The next day she met in the street one of the negroes
who had threatened "Nelse.
" How's Mistah Gaston dis mawnin' M'am? " he asked.
Without a word of warning she sprang on him like a
tigress, bore him to the ground, grasped him by the throat
and pounded his head against a stone. She would have
122 The Leopard's Spots
choked him to death, had not a man who was passing
come to the rescue.
" Lemme lone, man, Fse doin' de wuk er God ! "
" You're committing murder, woman."
When the negro got up he jumped the fence and tore
down through a corn field, as though pursued by a
hundred devils, now and then glancing over his shoulder
to see if Eve were after him.
The Preacher tried in vain to bring the perpetrators
of this outrage on Nelse to justice. He identified six
of them positively. They were arrested, and when put
on trial immediately discharged by the judge who was
himself a member of the League that had ordered Nelse
whipped.
Tom Camp's daughter was now in her sixteenth year
and as plump and winsome a lassie, her Scotch mother
declared, as the Lord ever made. She was engaged to
be married to Hose Norman, a gallant poor white from
the high hill country at the foot of the mountains. Hose
came to see her every Sunday riding a black mule, gaily
trapped out in martingales with red rings, double girths
to his saddle and a flaming red tassel tied on each side of
the bridle. Tom was not altogether pleased with his
-future son-in-law. He was too wild, went to too many
frolics, danced too much, drank too much whiskey and
was too handy with a revolver.
"Annie, child, you'd better think twice before you
step off with that young buck," Tom gravely warned
his daughter as he stroked her fair hair one Sunday morn-
ing while she waited for Hose to escort her to church.
" I have thought a hundred times, Paw, but what's
the use. I love him. He can just twist me 'round his
little finger. I've got to have him."
The Second Reign of Terror 123
" Tom Camp, you don't want to forget you were not
a saint when I stood up with you one day," cried his
wife with a twinkle in her eye.
" That's a fact, ole woman," grinned Tom.
" You never give me a day's trouble after I got hold
of you. Sometimes the wildest colts make the safest
horses."
" Yes, that's so. It's owing to who has the breaking
of 'em," thoughtfully answered Tom.
" I like Hose. He's full of fun, but he'll settle down
and make her a good husband."
The girl slipped close to her mother and squeezed her
hand.
" Do you love him much, child ? " asked her father.
" Well enough to live and scrub and work for him
and to die for him, I reckon."
" All right, that settles it, you're too many for me,
you and Hose and your Maw. Get ready for it quick.
We'll have the weddin' Wednesday night. This home
is goin' to be sold Thursday for taxes and it will be our
last night under our own roof. We'll make the best
of it."
It was so fixed. On Wednesday night Hose came down
from the foothills with three kindred spirits, and an
old fiddler to make the music. He wanted to have a
dance and plenty of liquor fresh from the mountain-dew
district. But Tom put his foot down on it.
" No dancin' in my house, Hose, and no licker," said
Tom with emphasis. " I'm a deacon in the Baptist
church. I used to be young and as good lookin' as you,
my boy, but I've done with them things. You're goin'
to take my little gal now. I want you to quit your fool-
ishness and be a man."
" I will, Tom, I will. She is the prettiest sweetest
little thing in this world, and to tell you the truth I'm
124 The Leopard's Spots
goin' to settle right down now to the hardest work I
ever did in my life."
" That's the way to talk, my boy," said Tom putting
his hand on Hose's shoulder. " You'll have enough to
do these hard times to make a livin'."
They made a handsome picture, in that humble home,
as they stood there before the Preacher. The young
bride was trembling from head to foot with fright. Hose
was trying to look grave and dignified and grinning in
spite of himself whenever he looked into the face of his
blushing mate. The mother was standing near, her face
full of pride in her daughter's beauty and happiness,
her heart all a quiver with the memories of her own
wedding day seventeen years before. Tom was think-
ing of the morrow when he would be turned out of his
home and his eyes filled with tears.
The Rev. John Durham had pronounced them man
and wife and hurried away to see some people who
were sick. The old fiddler was doing his best. Hose
and his bride were shaking hands with fheir friends, and
the boys were trying to tease the bridegroom with hoary
old jokes.
Suddenly a black shadow fell across the doorway. The
fiddle ceased, and every eye was turned to the door. The
burly figure of a big negro trooper from a company sta-
tioned in the town stood before them. His face was in
a broad grin, and his eyes bloodshot with whiskey. He
brought his musket down on the floor with a bang.
" My frien's, I'se sorry ter disturb yer but I has orders
ter search dis house."
" Show your orders," said Tom hobbling before him.
" Well, deres one un 'em ! " he said still grinning as he
cocked his gun and presented it toward Tom. " En ef
dat aint ennuf dey's fifteen mo' stanin' 'roun' dis house.
It's no use ter make er fuss. Come on, boys ! "
The Second Reign of Terror 125
Before Tom could utter another word of protest six
more negro troopers laughing and nudging one another
crowded into the room. Suddenly one of them threw a
bucket of water in the fire place where a pine knot blazed
and two others knocked out the candles.
There was a scuffle, the quick thud of heavy blows,
and Hose Norman fell to the floor senseless. A pierc-
ing scream rang from his bride as she was seized in
the arms of the negro who first appeared. He rapidly
bore her toward the door surrounded by the six scoun-
drels who had accompanied him.
" My God, save her ! They are draggin' Annie out of
the house," shrieked her mother.
" Help ! Help ! Lord have mercy ! " screamed the
girl as they bore her away toward the woods, still laugh-
ing and yelling.
Tom overtook one of them, snatched his wooden leg
off, and knocked him down. Hose's mountain boys were
crowding round Tom with their pistols in their hands.
" What shall we do, Tom ? If we shoot we may kill
Annie."
" Shoot, men ! My God, shoot ! There are things
worse than death ! "
They needed no urging. Like young tigers they
sprang across the orchard toward the woods whence
came the sound of the laughter of the negroes.
" Stop de screechin' ! " cried the leader.
" She nebber get dat gag out now."
" Too smart fur de po' white trash dis time sho' 1 "
laughed one.
Three pistol shots rang out like a single report ! Three
more ! and three more ! There was a wild scramble. Taken
completely by surprise, the negroes fled in confusion.
Four lay on the ground. Two were dead, one mortally
wounded and three more had crawled away with bullets
The Leopard's Spots
in their bodies. There in the midst of the heap lay the
unconscious girl gagged.
" Is she hurt ? " cried a mountain boy.
" Can't tell, take her to the house quick."
They laid her across the bed in the room that had
been made sweet and tidy for the bride and groom. The
mother bent over her quickly with a light. Just where
the blue veins crossed in her delicate temple there was
a round hole from which a scarlet stream was running
down her white throat.
Without a word the mother brought Tom, showed it
to him, and then fell into his arms and burst into a flood
of tears.
" Don't, don't cry so Annie ! It might have been worse*
Let us thank God she was saved from them brutes."
Hose's friends crowded round Tom now with tear*
stained faces.
" Tom, you don't know how broke up we all are ove*
this. Poor child, we did the best we could."
" It's all right, boys. You've been my friends to-night,
You've saved my little gal. I want to shake hands with
you and thank you. If you hadn't been here — My God,
I can't think of what would 'a happened! Now it's all
right. She's safe in God's hands. "
The next morning when Tom Camp called at the par-
sonage to see the Preacher and arrange for the funeral
of his daughter he found him in bed.
" Dr. Durham is quite sick, Mr. Camp, but he'll see
you," said Mrs. Durham.
" Thank you, M'am."
She took the old soldier by the hand and her voice
choked as she said,
" You have my heart's deepest sympathy in your awful
sorrow."
" It'll be all lor the best, M'am. The Lord gave and
The Second Reign of Terror 1*7
tfie Lord has taken away. I will still say, Blessed is
the name of the Lord ! "
" I wish I had such faith." She led Tom into the
room where the Preacher lay.
" Why, what's this, Preacher ? A bandage over your
eye, looks like somebody knocked you in the head ? "
" Yes, Tom, but it's nothing. I'll be all right by to-
morrow. You needn't tell me anything that happened
at your house. I've heard the black hell-lit news. It will
be all over this county by night and the town will be full
of grim-visaged men before many hours. Your child has
not died in vain. A few things like this will be the
trumpet of the God of our fathers that will call the sleep-
ing manhood of the Anglo-Saxon race to life again. I
must be up and about this afternoon to keep down the
storm. It is not time for it to break."
" But, Preacher, what happened to you ? "
" Oh ! nothing much, Tom."
" I'll tell you what happened," cried Mrs. Durham
standing erect with her great dark eyes flashing with
anger.
" As he came home last night from a visit to the sick,
he was ambushed by a gang of negroes led by a white
scoundrel, knocked down, bound and gagged and placed
on a pile of dry fence rails. They set fire to the pile
and left him to burn to death. It attracted the attention
of Doctor Graham who was passing. He got to him in
time to save him."
"You don't say so!"
" I'm sorry, Tom, I'm so weak this morning I
couldn't come to see you. I know your poor wife is
heartbroken."
" Yes, sir, she is, and it cuts me to the quick when I
think that I gave the orders to the boys to shoot. But,
Preacher, I'd a killed her with my own hand if I couldn't
128 The Leopard's Spots
a saved her no other way. I'd do it over again a thou-
sand times if I had to."
" I don't blame you, I'd have done the same thing. I
can't come to see you to-day, Tom, Til be down to your
house to-morrow a few minutes before we start for the
cemetery. I must get up for dinner and prevent the men
from attacking these troops. They'll not dare to try to
sell your place to-day. The public square is full of men
now, and it's only nine o'clock. You go home and cheer
up your wife. How is Hose?"
" He's still in bed. The Doctor says his skull is broken
in one place, but he'll be over it in a few weeks."
Tom hobbled back to his house, shaking hands with
scores of silent men on the way.
The Preacher crawled to his desk and wrote this note
to the young officer in command of the post,
MY DEAR CAPTAIN,
In the interest of peace and order I would advise you
to telegraph to Independence for two companies of white
regulars to come immediately on a special, and that you
start your negro troops on double quick marching order
to meet them. There will be a thousand armed men in
Hambright by sundown, and no power on earth can pre-
vent the extermination of that negro company if they
attack them. I will do my best to prevent further blood-
shed but I can do nothing if these troops remain here
to-day. Respectfully,
JOHN DURHAM.
The Commandant acted on the advice immediately.
******
It was the week following before the sales began.
There was no help for it. The town and the county
The Second Reign of Terror 129
were doomed to a ruin more complete and terrible than
the four years of war had brought. Independence had
been saved by a skillful movement of General Worth,
who sought an interview with Legree when his council
first issued their levy of thirty per cent for municipal
purposes.
" Mr. Legree, let's understand one another," said the
General.
" All right, I'm a man of reason."
" A bird in hand is worth two in the bush ! "
" Every time, General."
" Well, call off your dogs, and rescind your order for
a thirty per cent tax levy, and I'll raise $30,000 in cash
and pay it to you in two days."
" Make it $50,000 and it's a bargain."
"Agreed." •
The General raised twenty thousand in the city, went
North and borrowed the remaining thirty thousand.
Legree and his brigands received this ransom and
moved on to the next town.
Poor Hambright was but a scrawny little village on a
red hill with no big values to be saved, and no mills to
interest the commercial world, and the auctioneer lifted
his hammer.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE RED FLAG OF THE AUCTIONEER
THE excitement through which Tom Camp had
passed in the death of his daughter, and the
stirring events connected with it, had been more
than his feeble body could endure. He had been stricken
with paroxysms of pain and nausea from his old wounds.
For three days and nights he had suffered unspeakable
agonies. He had borne his pain with stoical in-
difference.
" Tom, old man, do look at me ! You skeer me/' said
his wife leaning tenderly over him.
" Oh I I'm all right, Annie."
" What was you studyin' about then ? "
" I was just a thinkin' we didn't kill babies in the war.
Them was awful times, but they wuz nothin' to what
we're goin' through now. The Lord knows best, but I
can't understand it."
" Well, don't talk any more. You're too weak."
" I must git up, Annie. Got to git out anyhow. The
Sheriff's goin' to sell us out to-day, and I want to sorter
look 'round once before we go."
So, leaning on his wife's arm, he hobbled around the
place saying good-bye to its familiar objects. They
stopped before the garden gate.
" Don't go in there, Tom, I can't stand it," cried his
wife. " When I think of leavin' that garden I've worked
so hard on all these years, and that's give us so many
130
The Red Flag of the Auctioneer 131
good things to eat, and never failed us the year round,
I just feel like it'll tear my heart out."
" Do you mind the day we set out these trees, Annie,
an' you, my own purty gal holdin' em fur me while I
packed the dirt around 'em, and told you how sweet you
wuz?"
" Yes, and I love every twig of 'em. They've all helped
me in times of need. Oh ! Lord, it's hard to give it up ! "-
She couldn't keep back the tears.
" Well, now, ole woman, you mustn't break down.
You're strong and well and I'm all shot to pieces and
crippled and no 'count. But the Lord still lives. We'll
get this place back. The Lord's just trying our faith.
He thinks mebbe I'll give up."
" You think we can ever get it back ? "
" General Worth sent me word he couldn't do any-
thing now, but to let it go and keep a stiff upper lip.
The General ain't no fool."
" Surely the Lord can't let us starve."
" Starve ! I reckon not ! The foxes have holes, the
birds of the air nests, but the Son of Man had not where
to lay His head, but He never starved. No, God's in
Heaven. I'll trust Him."
A mocking bird whose mate had just built her nest to
rear a second brood for the season was seated on the
topmost branch of a cedar near the house, and singing
as though he would fill heaven and earth with the glory
of his love.
" Just listen at that bird, Tom ! " whispered his wife.
"He does sing sweet, don't he?"
" Oh dear, oh dear, how can I give it all up ! I've fed
that bird and his mate for years. He knows my voice.
I can call him down out of that tree. Many a night when
you were away in the war he sat close to my window
and sang softly to me all night. When I'd wake, I'd hear
13 a The Leopard's Spots
him singin' low like he was afraid he'd wake somebody.
I'd sit down there by the window and cry for you and
dream of your comin' home till he'd sing me to sleep in
the chair. And now we've got to leave him. Oh Lord,
my heart is broken ! I can't see the way ! "
She buried her face on Tom's shoulder and shook with
sobs.
" Hush, hush, honey, we must face trouble. We are
used to it."
" But not this, Tom. It'll tear my heart out when I
have to leave."
" It can't be helped, Annie. We've got to pay for this
nigger government."
Eleven o'clock was the hour fixed for the sale. At
half past ten a crowd of negroes had gathered. There
were only two or three white men present, the Agent of
the Freedman's Bureau and some of his henchmen.
They began to inspect the place. Tim Shelby was
present, dressed in a suit of broadcloth and a silk hat
placed jauntily on his close-cropped scalp.
" That's a fine orchard, gentlemen," Tim exclaimed.
" Yes, en dats er fine gyarden," said a negro standing
near.
" Let's look at the house," said Tim starting to the
door.
Tom stood up in the doorway with a musket in his hand,
" Put your foot on that doorstep and I'll blow your
brains out, you flat-nosed baboon ! "
Tim paused and bowed with a smile.
" Ain't the premises for sale, Mr. Camp ? "
"Yes, but my family ain't for inspection by
niggers."
"Just wanted to see the condition of the house, sir,"
said Tim still smiling.
" Well, I'm livin' here yet, and don't you forget it,"
The Red Flag of the Auctioneer 133
answered Tom with quiet emphasis. Tim walked away
laughing.
Tom stepped out of the house, and with his wooden
leg marked a dead line around the house about ten feet
from each corner. To the crowd that stood near he
said in a clear ringing voice as he stood up in the door-
way.
" I'll kill the first nigger that crosses that line."
There was no attempt to cross it. They did not like
the look of Tom's face as he sat there pale and silent.
And they could hear the sobs of his wife inside.
The sale was a brief formality. There was but one
bidder, the Honourable Tim Shelby. It was knocked down
to Tim for the sum of eighty-five dollars, the exact
amount of the tax levy which Legree and his brigands
had fixed.
Tim was not buying on his own account. He was the
purchasing agent of the subsidiary ring which Legree
had organised to hold the real estate forfeited for taxes
until a rise in value would bring them millions of profit.
They had stolen from the state Treasury the money to
capitalise this company. Where it was possible to exact
a cash ransom, they always took it and cancelled the tax
order, preferring the certainty of good gold in their
pockets to the uncertainties of politics.
They tried their best to get a cash ransom of ten thou-
sand dollars for the town of Hambright. But the ruined
people could not raise a thousand. So Tim Shelby as
the agent of the " Union Land and Improvement Com-
pany," became the owner of farm after farm and home
after home.
It was a vain hope that relief could come from any
quarter. The red flag of the Sheriff's auctioneer fluttered
from two thousand three hundred and twenty doors in
the conntv This was over two-thirds of the total.
134 The Leopard's Spots
Those who were saved, just escaped by the skin erf their
teeth. They sold old jewelry or plate that had been
hidden in the war, or they sold their corn and provisions,
trusting to their ability to live on dried fruit, berries,
walnuts, hickory nuts, and such winter vegetables as they
could raise in their gardens.
The Preacher secured for Tom a tumbled-down log
cabin on the outskirts of town, with a half-acre of poor
red hill land around it, which his wife at once trans-
formed into a garden. She took up the bulbs and flowers
that she had tended so lovingly about the door of their
old home, and planted them with tears around this deso-
late cabin. Now and then she would look down at the
work and cry. Then she would go bravely back to it.
As nobody occupied her old home, she went back and
forth until she moved all the jonquils and sweet pinks
from the borders of the garden walk, and reset them
in the new garden. She moved then her strawberries
and rapsberries, and gooseberries, and set her fall cab-
bage plants. In three weeks she had transformed a
desolate red clay lot into a smiling garden. She had
watered every plant daily, and Tom had watched her
with growing wonder and love.
" Ole woman, you're an angel ! " he cried, " if God had
sent one down from the skies she couldn't have done any
more."
* * * * *
The problem which pressed heaviest of all on the
Preacher's heart in this crisis was how to save Mrs.
Gaston's home.
" If that place is sold next week, my dear," he said to
his wife, " she will never survive."
" I know it. She is sinking every day. It breaks my
heart to look at her."
"What can we do?"
The Red Flag of the Auctioneer 135
" I'm sure I can't tell. We've given everything we
have on earth except the clothes on our back. I haven't
another piece of jewelry, or even an old dress."
" The tax and the costs may amount to a hundred and
seventy-five dollars. There isn't a man in this county
who has that much money, or I'd borrow it if I had to
mortgage my body and soul to do it."
" I'll tell you what you might do," his wife suddenly
exclaimed. " Telegraph your old college mate in Boston
that you will accept his invitation to supply his pulpit
those last two Sundays in August. They will pay you
handsomely."
" It may be possible, but where am I to get the money
for a telegram and a ticket ? "
" Surely you can borrow some here ! "
" I don't know a man in the county who has it."
" Then go to the young Commandant of the post here.
Tell him the facts. Tell him that a widow of a brave
Confederate soldier is about to be turned out of her home
because she can't pay the taxes levied by this infamous
negro government. Ask him to loan you the money for
the telegram and the ticket."
The Preacher seized his hat and made his way as fast
as possible to the camp. The young Captain heard his
story with grave courtesy.
" Certainly, doctor," he said, " I'll loan you the forty
dollars with pleasure. I wish I could do more to relieve
the distress of the people. Believe me, sir, the people
of the North do not dream of the awful conditions of
the South. They are being fooled by the politicians. I'll
thank God when I am relieved of this job and get home.
What has amazed me is that you hot-headed Southern
people have stood it thus far. I don't know a Northern
community that would have endured it."
"Ah, Captain, the people are heartsick of bloodshed,
136 The Leopard's Spots
They surrendered in good faith. They couldn't foresee
this. If they had"—
The Preacher paused, his eyes grew misty with tears,
and he looked thoughtfully out on the blue mountain
peaks that loomed range after range in the distance until
the last bald tops were lost in the clouds.
" If General Lee had dreamed of such an infamy
being forced on the South two years after his surrender,
as this attempt to make the old slaves the rulers of their
masters, and to destroy the Anglo-Saxon civilisation of
the South — he would have withdrawn his armies into
that Appalachian mountain wild and fought till every
white man in the South was exterminated.
" The Confederacy went to pieces in a day, not because
the South could no longer fight, but because they were
fighting the flag of their fathers, and they were tired of
it. They went back to the old flag. They expected to
lose their slaves and repudiate the dogma of Secession
forever. But, they never dreamed of Negro dominion,
or Negro deification, of Negro equality and amalgama-
tion, now being rammed down their throats with bay-
onets. They never dreamed of the confiscation of the
desolate homes of the poor and the weak and the broken-
hearted. Over two hundred thousand Southern men
fought in the Union army in answer to Lincoln's call —
even against their own flesh and blood. But if this pro-
gram had been announced, every one of the two hun-
dred thousand Southern soldiers who wore the blue,
would have rallied around the firesides of the South. This
infamy was something undreamed save in the souls of a
few desperate schemers at Washington who waited their
opportunity, and found it in the nation's blind agony
over the death of a martyred leader/'
The Preacher pressed the Captain's hand and hastened
to tell Mrs. Gaston of his plans. He found her seated pale
The Red Flag of the Auctioneer 137
and wistful at her window looking out on the lawn,
now being parched and ruined since Nelse was disabled
and could no longer tend it.
Charlie was trying to kiss the tears away from her
eyes.
" Mama dear, you mustn't cry any more ! "
" I can't help it, darling."
" They can't take our home away from us. I tore the
sign down they nailed on the door, and Dick burned
it up!"
" But they will do it, Charlie. The Sheriff will sell it
at auction next week, and we will never have a home of
our own again."
Charlie bounded to the door and showed the Preacher
in. V
" I have good news for you, Mrs. Gaston I I start to
Boston to-night to preach two Sundays. I am going to
try to borrow the money there to save your home. We
will not be too sure till it's done, but you must cheer
up!"
" Oh ! doctor, you're giving me a new lease on life ! "
she cried, looking up at him through tears of grati-
tude.
That night the Preacher hurried on 'his way to Boston.
The days dragged slowly one after another, and still
no word came to the anxious waiting woman. It was
only two days now until the day fixed for the sale.
She asked the Sheriff to come to see her. He was a
brutal illiterate henchman of Legree, who had been ap-
pointed to the office to do his bidding. He was a brother
of the immortal " Hog " Scoggins, who had represented
an adjoining county in the Legislature.
" Mr. Scoggins, I've sent for you to ask you to post-
pone the sale until Dr. Durham returns from Boston. I
expect to get the money from him to pay the tax bill,"
138 The Leopard's Spots
" Can't do it, M'um. They's er lot er folks comin' ter
bid on the place."
" But I tell you I'm going to pay the tax bill."
" Well, M'um, hit'll have ter be paid afore the time
sot, er I'll be erbleeged to sell."
" I'm sure Dr. Durham will get the money."
" Ef he does, hit '11 be the fust time hit's happened in
this county sence the sales begun."
In vain she waited for a letter or a telegram from
Boston. Charlie went faithfully asking Dave Haley, the
postmaster, two or three times on the arrival of each
mail.
" I tell ye there's nothin' fur ye ! " he yelled as he
glared at the boy. " Ef ye don't go way from that win-
der, "ill pitch ye out the door ! "
The scoundrel had recognised the letter in Dr. Dur-
ham's handwriting and had hidden it, suspecting its con-
tents.
When the day came for the sale Mrs. Gaston tried to
face the trial bravely. But it was too much for her.
When she saw a great herd of negroes trampling down
her flowers, laughing, cracking vulgar jokes, and swarm-
ing over the porches, she sank feebly into her chair,
buried her face in her hands and gave way to a passion-
ate flood of tears. She was roused by the thumping of
heavy feet in the hall, and the unmistakable odour of per-
spiring negroes. They had begun to ransack the house
on tours of inspection. The poor woman's head drooped
and she fell to the floor in a dead swoon.
There was a sudden charge as of an armed host, the
sound of blows, a wild scramble, and the house was
cleared. Aunt Eve with a fire shovel, Charlie with a
broken hoe handle, and Dick with a big black snake whip
had cleared the air.
The Red Flag of the Auctioneer 139
Aunt Eve stood on the front door-step shaking the
shovel at the crowd.
" Des put yo big flat hoofs in dis house ergin ! I'll
split yo heads wide open ! You black cattle ! "
" Dat we will ! " railed Dick as he cracked the whip
at a little negro passing.
Charlie ran into his mother's room to see what she was1
doing, and found her lying across the floor on her face.
" Aunt Eve, come quick, Mama's dying ! " he shouted.
They lifted her to the bed, and Dick ran for the doctor.
Dr. Graham looked very grave when he had completed
his examination.
" Come here, my boy, I must tell you some sad news."
Charlie's big brown eyes glanced up with a startled
look into the doctor's face.
" Don't tell me she's dying, doctor, I can't stand it."
The doctor took his hand. " You're getting to be a
man now, my son, you will soon be thirteen. You must
be brave. Your mother will not live through the night."
The boy sank on his knees beside the still white figure,
tenderly clasped her thin hand in his, and began to kiss
it slowly. He would kiss it, lay his wet cheek against it,
and try to warm it with his hot young blood.
It was about nine o'clock when she opened her eyes
with a smile and looked into his face.
" My sweet boy," she whispered.
"Oh! Mama, do try to live! Don't leave me," he
sobbed in quivering tones as he leaned over and kissed
her lips. She smiled faintly again.
" Yes, I must go, dear. I am tired. Your papa is
waiting for me. I see him smiling and beckoning to me
now. I must go."
A sob shook the boy with an agony no words could
frame.
140 The Leopard's Spots
" There, there, dear, don't," she soothingly said, " you
will grow to be a brave strong man. You will fight this
battle out, and win back our home and bring your own
bride here in the far away days of sunshine and suc-
cess I see for you. She will love you, and the flowers
will blossom on the lawn again. But I am tired. Kiss
me — I must go."
Her heart fluttered on for a while, but she never spoke
again.
At ten o'clock Mrs. Durham tenderly lifted the boy
from the bedside, kissed him, and said as she led him
to his room,
" She's done with suffering, Charlie. You are going
to live with me now, and let me love you and be your
mother."
The Preacher had made a profound impression on his
Boston congregation.
They were charmed by his simple direct appeal to the
heart. His fiery emphasis, impassioned dogmatic faith,
his tenderness and the strange pathos of his voice swept
them off their feet. At night the big church was crowded
to the doors, and throngs were struggling in vain to gain
admittance. At the close of the services he was over-
whelmed with the expressions of gratitude and heartfelt
sympathy with which they thanked him for his messages.
He was feasted and dined and taken out into the parks
behind spanking teams, until his head was dizzy with
the unaccustomed whirl.
The Preacher went through it all with a heavy heart.
Those beautiful homes with their rich carpets, handsome
furniture, and those long lines of beautiful carriages in
the parks, made a contrast with the agony of universal
ruin which he left at home that crushed his soul
The Red Flag of the Auctioneer 141
He hastened to tell the story of Mrs. Gaston to a genial
old merchant who had taken a great fancy to him.
A tear glistened in the old man's eye as he quickly rose.
" Come right down to my store. I'll get you a money
order before the post-office closes. I've got tickets for you
to go to the Coliseum with me to-night and hear the
music! — the great Peace Jubilee. We are celebrating
the return of peace and prosperity, and the preservation
of the Union. It's the greatest musical festival the world
ever saw."
The Preacher was dazed with the sense of its sub-
limity and the pathetic tragedy of the South that lay
back of its joy.
The great Coliseum, constructed for the purpose,
seated over forty thousand people. Such a crowd he had
never seen gathered together within one building. The
soul of* the orator in him leaped with divine power as he
glanced over the swaying ocean of human faces. There
were twelve thousand trained voices in the chorus. He
had dreamed of such music in Heaven when countless
hosts of angels should gather around God's throne. He
had never expected to hear it on this earth. He was
transported with a rapture that thrilled and lifted him
above the consciousness of time and sense.
They rendered the masterpieces of all the ages. The
music continued hour after hour, day after day, and
night after night.
The grand chorus within the Coliseum was accom-
panied by the ringing of bells in the city, and the firing
of cannon on the common, discharged in perfect time
with the melody that rolled upward from those twelve
thousand voices and broke against the gates of Heaven !
When every voice was in full cry, and every instrument
of music that man had ever devised, throbbed in har-
mony, and a hundred anvils were ringing a chorus of
142 The Leopard's Spots
steel in perfect time, Parepa Rosa stepped forward on
the great stage, and in a voice that rang its splendid
note of triumph over all like the trumpet of the arch-
angel, sang the Star Spangled Banner!
Men and women fainted, and one woman died, unable
to endure the strain. The Preacher turned his head
away and looked out of the window. A soft wind was
blowing from the South. On its wings were borne to
his heart the cry of the widow and orphan, the hungry
and the dying still being trampled to death by a war
more terrible than the first, because it was waged against
the unarmed, women and children, the wounded, the
starving and the defenceless ! He tried in vain to keep
back the tears. Bending low, he put his face in his hands
and cried like a child.
" God forgive them ! They know not what they do ! "
he moaned.
The kindly old man by his side said nothing, suppos-
ing he was overcome by the grandeur of the music.
CHAPTER XIX
THE RALLY OF THE CLANSMEN
WHEN the Preacher took the train in Boston
for the South, his friendly merchant, a dea-
con, was by his side.
" Now, you put my name and address down in your
note book, William Crane. And don't forget about us/'
" I'll never forget you, deacon."
"Say, I just as well tell you," whispered the deacon
bending close, " we are not going to allow you to stay
down South. We'll be down after you before long —
just as well be packing up ! "
The Preacher smiled, looked out of the car window,
and made no reply.
" Well, good-bye, Doctor, good-bye. God bless you and
your work and your people ! You've brought me a mes-
sage warm from God's heart. I'll never forget it."
" Good-bye, deacon."
As the train whirled southward through the rich
populous towns and cities of the North, again the sharp
contrast with the desolation of his own land cut him like
a knife. He thought of Legree and Haley, Perkins and
Tim Shelby robbing widows and orphans and sweeping
the poverty-stricken Southland with riot, pillage, murder
and brigandage, and posing as the representatives of the
conscience of the North. And his heart was heavy with
sorrow.
On reaching Hambright he was thunderstruck at the
143
144 The Leopard's Spots
news of the sale of Mrs. Gaston's place and her tragic
death.
" Why, my dear, I sent the money to her on the first
Monday I spent in Boston ! " he declared to his wife.
" It never reached her."
" Then Dave Haley, the dirty slave driver, has held
that letter. I'll see to this." He hurried to the post-
office.
" Mr. Haley," he exclaimed, " I sent a money order
letter to Mrs. Gaston from Boston on Monday a week
ago."
" Yes, sir," answered Haley in his blandest manner, " it
got here the day after the sale."
" You're an infamous liar ! " shouted the Preacher.
" Of course ! Of course ! All Union men are liars to
hear rebel traitors talk."
" I'll report you to Washington for this rascality."
" So do, so do. Mor'n likely the President and the
Post-Office Department '11 be glad to have this informa-
tion from so great a man."
As the Preacher was leaving the post-office he encoun-
tered the Hon. Tim Shelby dressed in the height of fash-
ion, his silk hat shining in the sun, and his eyes rolling
with the joy of living. The Preacher stepped squarely
in front of Tim.
" Tim Shelby, I hear you have moved into Mrs. Gas-
ton's home and are using her furniture. By whose
authority do you dare such insolence ? "
" By authority of the law, sir. Mrs. Gaston died intes-
tate. Her effects are in the hands of our County Ad-
ministrator, Mr. Ezra Perkins. I'll be pleased to receive
you, sir, any time you would like to call ! " said Tim
with a bow.
" I'll call in due time," replied the 'Preacher, looking
Tim straight in the eye.
The Rally of the Clansmen 145
Haley had been peeping through the window, watching
and listening to this encounter.
" These charmin' preachers think they own this
county, brother Shelby," laughed Haley as he grasped
Tim's outstretched hand.
" Yes, they are the curse of the state. I wish to God
they had succeeded in burning him alive that night the
boys tried it. They'll get him later on. Brother Haley,
he's a dangerous man. He must be put out of the way,
or we'll never have smooth sailing in this county."
" I believe you're right, he's just been in here cussin'
me about that letter of the widder's that didn't get to her
in time. He thinks he can run the post-office."
" Well, we'll show him this county's in the hands of
the loyal ! " added Tim.
" Heard the news from Charleston ? "
" Heard it ? I guess I have. I talked with the com-
manding General in Charleston two weeks ago. He told
me then he was going to set aside that decision of the
Supreme Court in a ringing order permitting the mar-
riage of negroes to white women, and commanding its
enforcement on every military post. I see he's done it in
no uncertain words."
" It's a great day, brother, for the world. There'll be
no more colour line. "
" Yes, times have changed," said Tim with a trium-
phant smile. " I guess our white hot-bloods will sweat
and bluster and swear a little when they read that order.
But we've got the bayonets to enforce it. They'd just
as well cool down."
"That's the stuff," said Haley, taking a fresh chew
of tobacco.
" Let 'em squirm. They're flat on their backs. We
are on top, and we are going to stay on top. I expect to
lead a fair white bride into my house before another year
146 The LeoparcTs Spots
and have poor white aristocrats to tend my lawn." Tim
worked his ears and looked up at the ceiling in a dreamy
sort of way.
" That'll be a sight won't it ! " exclaimed Haley with
delight. " Where's that scoundrel Nelse that lived with
Mrs. Gaston?"
"Oh, we fixed him," said Tim. "The black rascal
wouldn't join the League, and wouldn't vote with his
people, and still showed fight after we beat him half to
death, so we put a levy of fifty dollars on his cabin, sold
him out, and every piece of furniture, and every rag of
clothes we could get hold of. He'll leave the country
now, or we'll kill him next time."
" You ought to a killed him the first time, and then
the job would ha' been over."
" Oh, we'll have the country in good shape in a little
while, and don't you forget it."
The news of the order of the military commandant of
" District No. 2," comprising the Carolinas, abrogating
the decisions of the North Carolina Supreme Court, for-
bidding the intermarriage of negroes and whites, fell like
a bombshell on Campbell county. The people had not
believed that the military authorities would dare go to
the length of attempting to force social equality.
This order from Charleston was not only explicit, its
language was peculiarly emphatic. It apparently com-
manded intermarriage, and ordered the military to en-
force the command at the point of the bayonet.
The feelings of the people were wrought to the pitch
of fury. It needed but a word from a daring leader, and
a massacre of every negro, scalawag and carpet-bagger
in the county might have followed. The Rev. John Dur-
ham was busy day and night seeking to allay excitement
and prevent an uprising of the white population.
Along with the announcement of this military order,
The Rally of the Clansmen 147
came the startling news that Simon Legree, whose in-
famy was known from end to end of the state, was to
be the next Governor, and that the Hon. Tim Shelby was
a candidate for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Legree was in Washington at the time on a mission
to secure a stand of twenty thousand rifles from the
Secretary of War, with which to arm the negro troops
he was drilling for the approaching election. The grant
was made and Legree came back in triumph with his
rifles.
Relief for the ruined people was now a hopeless dream.
Black despair was clutching at every white man's heart.
The taxpayers had held a convention and sent their
representatives to Washington exposing the mon-
strous thefts that were being committed under the au-
thority of the government by the organised band of
thieves who were looting the state. But the thieves were
the pets of politicians high in power. The committee of
taxpayers were insulted and sent home to pay their
taxes.
And then a thing happened in Hambright that brought
matters to a sudden crisis.
The Hon. Tim Shelby as school commissioner, had
printed the notices for an examination of school teachers
for Campbell county. An enormous tax had been levied
and collected by the county for this purpose, but no
school had been opened. Tim announced, however, that
the school would be surely opened the first Monday in
October.
Miss Mollie Graham, the pretty niece of the old doctor,
was struggling to support a blind mother and four
younger children. Her father and brother had been
killed in the war. Their house had been sold for taxes,
and they were required now to pay Tim Shelby ten dol-
lars a month for rent. When she saw that school notice
148 The Leopard's Spots
her heart gave a leap. If she could only get the place,
it would save them from beggary.
She fairly ran to the Preacher to get his advice.
" Certainly, child, try for it. It's humiliating to ask
such a favour of that black ape, but if you can save your
loved ones, do it."
\So with trembling hand she knocked at Tim's door.
He required all applicants to apply personally at his house.
Tim met her with the bows and smirks of a dancing
master.
" Delighted to see your pretty face this morning, Miss
Graham," he cried enthusiastically.
The girl blushed and hesitated at the door.
" Just walk right in the parlour, I'll join you in a
moment."
She bravely set her lips and entered.
" And now what can I do for you, Miss Graham ? "
" I've come to apply for a teacher's place in the school."
" Ah indeed, I'm glad to know that. There is only one
difficulty. You must be loyal. Your people were rebels,
and the new government has determined to have only
loyal teachers."
" I think I'm loyal enough to the old flag now that our
people have surrendered," said the girl.
" Yes, yes, I dare say, but do you think you can accept
the new regime of government and society which we are
now establishing in the South? We have abolished the
colour line. Would you have a mixed school if assigned
one?"
" I think I'd prefer to teach a negro school outright
to a mixed one," she said after a moment's hesitation.
Tim continued, " You know we are living in a new
world. The supreme law of the land has broken down
every barrier of race and we are henceforth to be one
people. The struggle for existence knows no race or
The Rally of the Clansmen 149
colour. It's a struggle now for bread. I'm in a position
to be of great fielp to you and your family if you will
only let me."
The girl suddenly rose impelled by some resistless
instinct.
" May I have the place then ? " she asked approaching
the door.
" Well, now you know it depends really altogether on
my fancy. I'll tell you what I'll do. You're still full of
silly prejudices. I can see that. But if you will over-
come them enough to do one thing for me as a test, that
will cost you nothing and of which the world will never
be the wiser, I'll give you the place and more, I'll remit
the ten dollars a month rent you're now paying. Will
you do it? "
" What is it ? " the girl asked with pale quivering lips.
" Let me kiss you — once ! " he whispered.
With a scream, she sprang past him out of the door,
ran like a deer across the lawn, and fell sobbing in her
mother's arms when she reached her home.
The next day the town was unusually quiet. Tim had
business with the Commandant of the company of regu-
lars still quartered at Hambright. He spent most of the
day with him, and walked about the streets ostentatiously
showing his familiarity with the corporal who accom-
panied him. A guard of three soldiers was stationed
around Tim's house for two nights and then withdrawn.
The next night at twelve o'clock two hundred white-
robed horses assembled around the old home of Mrs.
Gaston where Tim was sleeping. The moon was full
and flooded the lawn with silver glory. On those horses
sat two hundred white-robed silent men whose close-
fitting hood disguises looked like the mail helmets of
ancient knights.
It was the work of a moment to seize Tim, and bind
150 The Leopard's Spots
him across a horse's back. Slowly the grim procession
moved to the court house square.
When the sun rose next morning the lifeless body of
Tim Shelby was dangling from a rope tied to the iron
rail of the balcony of the court house. His neck was
broken and his body was hanging low — scarcely three
feet from the ground. His thick lips had been split with
a sharp knife and from his teeth hung this placard:
" The answer of the Anglo-Saxon race to
Negro lips that dare pollute with words the
womanhood of the South. K. K. K."
And the Ku Klux Klan was master of Campbell county.
The origin of this Law and Order League which
sprang up like magic in a night and nullified the pro-
gramme of Congress though backed by an army of a
million veteran soldiers, is yet a mystery.
The simple truth is, it was a spontaneous and resist-
less racial uprising of clansmen of highland origin living
along the Appalachian mountains and foothills of the
South, and it appeared almost simultaneously in every
Southern state produced by the same terrible conditions.
It was the answer to their foes of a proud and in-
domitable race of men driven to the wall. In the hour
of their defeat they laid down their arms and accepted
in good faith the results of the war. And then, when
unarmed and defenceless, a group of pot-house politicians
for political ends, renewed the war, and attempted to
wipe out the civilisation of the South.
This Invisible Empire of White Robed Anglo-Saxon
Knights was simply the old answer of organised man-
hood to organised crime. Its purpose was to bring order
out of chaos, protect the weak and defenceless, the widows
and orphans of brave men who had died for their coun-
try, to drive from power the thieves who were robbing
The Rally of the Clansmen 151
the people, redeem the commonwealth from infamy, and
reestablish civilisation.
Within one week from its appearance, life and prop-
erty were as safe as in any Northern community.
When the negroes came home from their League meet-
ing one night they ran terror stricken past long rows of
white horsemen. Not a word was spoken, but that was
the last meeting the " Union League of America " ever
held in Hambright.
Every negro found guilty of a misdemeanor was
promptly thrashed and warned against its recurrence.
The sudden appearance of this host of white cavalry
grasping at their throats with the grip of cold steel struck
the heart of Legree and his followers with the chill of a
deadly fear.
It meant inevitable ruin, overthrow, and a prison cell
for the " loyal " statesmen who were with him in his
efforts to maintain the new " republican form of govern-
ment " in North Carolina.
At the approaching election, this white terror could
intimidate every negro in the state unless he could arm
them all, suspend the writ of Habeas Corpus, and place
every county under the strictest martial law.
Washington was besieged by a terrified army of the
" loyal " who saw their occupation threatened. They
begged for more troops, more guns for negro militia, and
for the reestablishment of universal martial law until the
votes were properly counted.
But the great statesmen laughed them to scorn as a
set of weak cowards and fools frightened by negro stories
of ghosts. It was incredible to them that the crushed,
poverty stricken and unarmed South could dare challenge
the power of the National Government They were sent
back with scant comfort.
The night that Ezra Perkins and Haley got back from
152 The Leopard's Spots
Washington, where they had gone summoned by Legree
and Hogg, to testify to the death of Tim Shelby, they
saw a sight that made their souls quake.
At ten o'clock, the Ku Klux Klan held a formal parade
through the streets of Hambright. How the news was
circulated nobody knew, but it seemed everybody in the
county knew of it. The streets were lined with thousands
of people who had poured in town that afternoon.
At exactly ten o'clock, a bugle call was heard on the
hill to the west of the town, and the muffled tread of soft
shod horses came faintly on their ears. Women stood on
the sidewalks, holding their babies and smiling, and
children were laughing and playing in the streets.
They rode four abreast in perfect order slowly through
the town. It was utterly impossibly to recognise a man
or a horse, so complete was the simple disguise of the
white sheet which blanketed the horse fitting closely over
his head and ears and falling gracefully over his form
toward the ground.
No citizen of Hambright was in the procession. They
were all in the streets watching it pass. There were fif-
teen hundred men in line. But the reports next day all
agreed in fixing the number at over five thousand.
Perkins and Haley had watched it from a darkened
room.
" Brother Haley, that's the end ! Lord I wish I was
back in Michigan, jail er no jail/' said Perkins mopping
the perspiration from his brow.
" We'll have ter dig out purty quick, I reckon," an-
swered Haley.
" And to think them fools at Washington laughed at
us ! " cried Perkins clinching his fists.
And that night, mothers and fathers gathered their
children to bed with a sense of grateful security they had
not felt through years of war and turmoil.
rriH
CHAPTER XX
HOW CIVILISATION WAS SAVED
E success of the Ku Klux Klan was so com-
plete, its organisers were dazed. Its appeal to
-*- the ignorance and superstition of the Negro at
once reduced the race to obedience and order. Its threat
against the scalawag and carpet-bagger struck terror
to their craven souls, and the " Union League," " Red
Strings," and " Heroes of America " went to pieces with
incredible rapidity.
Major Stuart Dameron, the chief of the Klan in Camp-
bell county was holding a conference with the Rev. John
Durham in his study.
" Doctor, our work has succeeded beyond our wildest
dream."
" Yes, and I thank God we can breathe freely if only
for a moment, Major. The danger now lies in our
success. We are necessarily playing with fire."
" I know it, and it requires my time day and night to
prevent reckless men from disgracing us."
" It will not be necessary to enforce the death penalty
against any other -man in this county, Major. The exe-
cution of Tim Shelby was absolutely necessary at the
time and it has been sufficient."
" I agree with you. I've impressed this on the master
of every lodge, but some of them are growing reckless."
"Who are they?"
" Young Allan McLeod for one. He is a dare devil
and only eighteen years old.
153
154 The Leopard's Spots
" He's a troublesome boy. I don't seem to have any
influence with him. But I think Mrs. Durham can
manage him. He seems to think a great deal of her, and
in spite of his wild habits, he comes regularly to her
Sunday School class."
" I hope she can bring him to his senses."
" Leave him to me then a while. We will see what
can be done."
*****
Hogg's Legislature promptly declared the Scotch-Irish
hill counties in a state of insurrection, passed a militia
bill, and the Governor issued a proclamation suspending
the writ of Habeas Corpus in these counties.
Fearing the effects of negro militia in the hill districts,
he surprised Hambright by suddenly marching into the
court house square a regiment of white mountain guer-
rillas recruited from the outlaws of East Tennessee and
commanded by a noted desperado, Colonel Henry Berry.
The regiment had two pieces of field artillery.
It was impossible for them to secure evidence against
any member of the Klan unless by the intimidation of
some coward who could be made to confess. Not a dis-
guise had ever been penetrated. It was the rule of the
order for its decrees to be executed in the district issuing
the decree by the lodge furthest removed in the county
from the scene. In this way not a man or a horse was
ever identified.
The Colonel made an easy solution of this difficulty,
however. Acting under instructions from Governor
Hogg, he secured from Haley and Perkins a list of every
influential man in every precinct in the county, and a list
of possible turncoats and cowards. He detailed five hun-
dred of his men to make arrests, distributed them through-
out the county and arrested without warrants over two
hundred citizens in one day.
How Civilisation Was Saved * 155
The next day Berry hand-cuffed together the Rev. John
Durham and Major Dameron, and led them escorted by a
company of cavalry on a grand circuit of the county,
that the people might be terrified by the sight of their
chains. An ominous silence greeted them on every hand.
Additional arrests were made by this troop and twenty-
five more prisoners led into Hambright the next day.
The jail was crowded, and the court house was used
as a jail. Over a hundred and fifty men were confined
in the court room. Rev. John Durham was everywhere
among the crowd, laughing, joking and cheering the
men.
" Major Dameron, a jail never held so many honest
men before," he said with a smile, as he looked over the
crowd of his church members gathered from every
quarter of the county.
" Well, Doctor, you've got a quorum here of your
church and you can call them to order for business."
"That's a fact, isn't it?"
" There's old Deacon Kline over there who looks like
he wished he hadn't come ! " The Preacher walked over
to the deacon.
" What' s the matter, brother Kline, you look pensive ? "
The deacon laughed. " Yes, I don't like my bed. I'm
used to feathers."
"Well, they say they are going to give you feathers
mixed with tar so you won't lose them so easily/'
" I'll have company, I reckon," said the deacon with
a wink.
" The funny thing, deacon, is that Major Dameron tells
me there isn't a man in all the crowd of two hundred and
fifty arrested who ever went on a raid. It's too bad
you old fellows have to pay for the follies of youth."
" It is tough. But we can stand it, Preacher." They
clasped hands.
156 The Leopard's Spots
" Haven't smelled a coward anywhere have you, dea-
con?"
" I've seen one or two a little fidgety, I thought. Cheer
'em up with a word, Preacher."
Springing on the platform of the judge's desk he looked
over the crowd for a moment, and a cheer shook the
building.
" Boys, I don't believe there's a single coward in our
ranks." Another cheer.
" Just keep cool now and let our enemies do the talk-
ing. In ten days every man of you will be back at home
at his work."
" How will we get out with the writ suspended ? "
asked a man standing near.
" That's the richest thing of all. A United States judge
has just decided that the Governor of the state cannot
suspend the rights of a citizen of the United States under
the new Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution so
.recently rammed down our throats. Hogg is hoisted on
his own petard. Our lawyers are now serving out writs
of Habeas Corpus before this Federal judge under the
Fourteenth Amendment, and you will be discharged in
less than ten days unless there's a skunk among you. And
I don't smell one anywhere." Again a cheer shook the
building.
An orderly walked up to the Preacher and handed him
a note.
"What is it?"
" Read it ! " The men crowded around.
" Read it, Major Dameron, I'm dumb," said the
Preacher.
" A military order from the dirty rascal, Berry, com-
manding the mountain bummers, forbidding the Rev.
John Durham to speak during his imprisonment ! "
A roar of laughter followed this announcement.
How Civilisation Was Saved 157
" That's cruel ! Ml kill him ! " cried deacon Kline as
he jabbed the Preacher in the ribs.
In a few minutes, the Preacher was back in his place
with five of the best singers from his church by his side.
He began to sing the old hymns of Zion and every man
in the room joined until the building quivered with
melody.
" Now a good old Yankee hymn, that suits this hour,
written by an an old Baptist preacher I met in Boston the
other day ! " cried the Preacher.
" My country 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing ! "
Heavens, how they sang it, while the Preacher lined it
off, stood above them beating time, and led in a clear
mighty voice! Again the orderly appeared with a
note.
" What is it now ? " they cried on every side.
Again Major Dameron announced " Military order No.
2, forbidding the Rev. John Durham to sing or induce
anybody to sing while in prison."
Another roar of laughter that broke into a cheer which
made the glass rattle When the soldier had disappeared,
the Rev. John Durham ascended the platform, looked
about him with a humourous twinkle in his eye, straight-
ened himself to his full height and crowed like a rooster !
A cheer shook the building to its foundations. Roar
after roar of its defiant cadence swept across the square
and made Haley and Perkins tremble as they looked at
each other over their conference table with Berry.
" What the devil's the matter now ? " cried Haley.
" Do you suppose it's a rescue ? " whispered Perkins.
" No, it's some new trick of that damned Preacher. I'll
chain him in a room to himself," growled Berry.
158 The Leopard's Spots
" Better not, Colonel. He's the pet of these white
devils. Ye'd better let him alone." Berry accepted the
advice.
Five days later the prisoners were arraigned before
the United States judge, Preston Rivers, at Independence.
Not a scrap of evidence could be produced against them.
Governor Hogg was present, with a flaming military es-
cort. He held a stormy interview with Judge Rivers.
" If you discharge these prisoners, you destroy the
government of this state, sir ! " thundered Hogg.
" Are they not citizens of the United States ? Does
not the Fourteenth Amendment apply to a white man as
well as a negro?" quietly asked the judge.
" Yes, but they are conspirators against the Union.
They are murderers and felons."
" Then prove it in my court and I'll hand them back
to you. They are entitled to a trial, under our Constitu-
tion/'
" I'll demand your removal by the President," shouted
Hogg.
" Get out of this room, or I'll remove you with the
point of my boot ! " thundered the judge with rising
wrath. " You have suspended the writ of Habeas Corpus
to win a political campaign. The Ku Klux Klan has
broken up your Leagues. You are fighting for your
life. But I'll tell you now, you can't suspend the Con-
stitution of the United States while I'm a Federal judge
in this state. I am not a henchman of yours to do your
dirty campaign work. The election is but ten days
off. Your scheme is plain enough. But if you want
to keep these men in prison it will be done on sworn
evidence of guilt and a warrant, not on your personal
whim."
The Governor cursed, raved and threatened in vain.
Judge Rivers discharged every prisoner and warned Col-
How Civilisation Was Saved 159
onel Berry against the repetition of such arrests within
his jurisdiction.
When these prisoners were discharged, a great mass-
meeting was called to give them a reception in the public
square of Independence. A platform was hastily built
in the square and that night five thousand excited people
crowded past the stand, shook hands with the men and
cheered till they were hoarse. The Governor watched the
demonstration in helpless fury from his room in the
hotel.
The speaking began at nine o'clock. Every discordant
element of the old South's furious political passions was
now melted into harmonious unity. Whig and Demo-
crat who had fought one another with relentless hatred
sat side by side on that platform. Secessionist and Union-
ist now clasped hands. It was a White Man's Party, and
against it stood in solid array the Black Man's Party, led
by Simon Legree.
Henceforth there could be but one issue, are you a
White Man or a Negro?
They declared there was but one question to be
settled : —
"Shall the future American be an Anglo-Saxon or a
Mulatto?"
These determined impassioned men believed that this
question was more important than any theory of tariff or
finance and that it was larger than the South, or even
the nation, and held in its solution the brightest hopes
of the progress of the human race. And they believed
that they were ordained of God in this crisis to give this
question its first authoritative answer.
The state burst into a flame of excitement that fused
in its white heat the whole Anglo-Saxon race.
In vain Hogg marched and counter-marched his
twenty thousand state troops. They only added fuel to
160 The Leopard's Spots
the fire. If they arrested a man, he became forthwith a
hero and was given an ovation. They sent bands of music
and played at the jail doors, and the ladies filled the jail
with every delicacy that could tempt the appetite or ap-
peal to the senses.
Hogg and Legree were in a panic of fear with the
certainty of defeat, exposure and a felon's cell yawning
before them.
Two days before the election, the prayer meeting was
held at eight o'clock in the Baptist church at Ham-
bright. It was the usual mid-week service, but the at-
tendance was unusually large.
After the meeting, the Preacher, Major Dameron, and
eleven men quietly walked back to the church and as-
sembled in the pastor's study. The door opened at the
rear of the church and could be approached by a side
street.
" Gentlemen/' said Major Dameron, " I've asked you
here to-night to deliver to you the most important order
I have ever given, and to have Dr. Durham as our chap-
lain to aid me in impressing on you its great urgency."
" We're ready for orders, Chief," said young Ambrose
Kline, the deacon's son.
" You are to call out every troop of the Klan in full
force the night before the election. You are to visit
every negro in the county, and warn every one as he
values his life not to approach the polls at this election.
Those who come, will be allowed to vote without molesta-
tion. All cowards will stay at home. Any man, black
or white, who can be scared out of his ballot is not fit to
have one. Back of every ballot is the red blood of the man
that votes. The ballot is force. This is simply a test of
manhood. It will be enough to show who is fit to rule the
state. As the masters of the eleven township lodges of
the Klan, you are the sole guardians of society to-day.
How Civilisation Was Saved 161
When a civilised government has been restored, your
work will be done.
" We will do it, sir," cried Kline.
" Let me say, men," said the Preacher, " that I heartily
endorse the plan of your chief. See that the work is
done thoroughly and it will be done for all time. In a
sense this is fraud. But it is the fraud of war. The spy
is a fraud, but we must use him when we fight. Is
war justifiable?
" It is too late now for us to discuss that question. We
are in a war, the most ghastly and hellish ever waged, a
war on women and children, the starving and the
wounded, and that with sharpened swords. The Turk
and Saracen once waged such a war. We must face it
and fight it out. Shall we flinch? "
" No ! no ! " came the passionate answer from every
man.
" You are asked to violate for the moment a statutory
law. There is a higher law. You are the sworn officers
of that higher law."
The group of leaders left the church with enthusiasm
and on the following night they carried out their instruc-
tions to the letter.
The election was remarkably quiet. Thousands of
soldiers were used at the polls by Hogg's orders. But
they seemed to make no impression on the determined
men who marched up between their files and put the bal-
lots in the box.
Legree's ticket was buried beneath an avalanche. The
new " Conservative " party carried every county in the
state save twelve and elected one hundred and six mem-
bers of the new Legislature out of a total of one hun-
dred and twenty.
The next day hundreds of carpet-bagger thieves fled to
the North, and Legree led the procession.
1 62 The LeoparcTs Spots
Legree had on deposit in New York two millions of
dollars, and the total amount of his part of the thefts he
had engineered reached five millions. He opened an
office on Wall Street, bought a seat in the Stock Ex-
change, and became one of the most daring and suc-
cessful of a group of robbers who preyed on the indus-
tries of the nation.
The new Legislature appointed a Fraud Commission
which uncovered the infamies of the Legree regime, but
every thief had escaped. They promptly impeached the
Governor and removed him from office, and the old com-
monwealth once more lifted up her head and took her
place in the ranks of civilised communities.
CHAPTER XXI
THE OLD AND THE NEW NEGRO
NELSE was elated over the defeat and dissolution
of the Leagues that had persecuted him with
such malignant hatred. When the news of the
election came he was still in bed suffering from his
wounds. He had received an internal injury that threat-
ened to prove fatal.
" Dar now ! " he cried, sitting up in bed, " Ain't I done
tole you no kinky-headed niggers gwine ter run dis gov'-
ment!"
" Keep still dar, ole man, you'll be faintin' ergin,"
worried Aunt Eve.
" Na honey, Fse feelin' better. Gwine ter git up and
meander down town en ax dem niggers how's de Ku
Kluxes comin' on dese days. "
In spite of all Eve could say he crawled out of bed,
fumbled into his clothes and started down town, leaning
heavily on his cane. He had gone about a block, when
he suddenly reeled and fell. Eve was watching him
from the door, and was quickly by his side. He died that
afternoon at three o'clock. He regained consciousness
before the end, and asked Eve for his banjo.
He put it lovingly into the hands of Charlie Gaston
who stood by the bed crying.
" You keep 'er, honey. You lub 'er talk better'n any
body in de worl', en 'member Nelse when you hear 'er
moan en sigh. En when she talk short en sassy en make
164 The Leopard's Spots
'em all gin ter shuffle, dat's me too. Dat's me got back
in 'er. "
Charlie Gaston rode with Aunt Eve to the cemetery.
He walked back home through the fields with Dick.
" I wouldn' cry 'bout er ole nigger ! " said Dick look-
ing into his reddened eyes.
" Can't help it. He was my best friend."
"Haint I wid you?"
" Yes, but you ain't Nelse."
" Well, I stan' by you des de same."
CHAPTER XXII
THE DANGER OF PLAYING WITH FIRE
THE following Saturday the Rev. John Durham
preached at a cross roads school house in the
woods about ten miles from Hambright. He
preached every Saturday in the year at such a mission
station. He was fond of taking Charlie with him on
these trips. There was an unusually large crowd in
attendance, and the Preacher was much pleased at this
evidence of interest. It had been a hard community
to impress. At the close of the services, while the
Preacher was shaking han^s with the people, Charlie
elbowed his way rapidly among the throng to his side.
" Doctor, there's a nigger man out at the buggy says
he wants to see you quick," he whispered.
" All right, Charlie, in a minute."
" Says to come right now. It's a matter of life and
death, and he don't want to come into the crowd."
A troubled look flashed over the Preacher's face and
he hastily followed the boy, fearing now a sinister mean-
ing to his great crowd.
" Preacher," said the negro looking timidly around,
" de Ku Klux is gwine ter kill ole Uncle1 Rufus Latti-
more ter night. I come ter see ef you can't save him.
He aint done nuthin' in God's worl' 'cept he would'h'
pull his waggin clear outen de road one day fur dat red-
headed Allan McLeod ter pass, en he cussed 'im black
and blue en tole 'im he gwine git eben wid 'im."
165
1 66 The Leopard's Spots
" How do you know this ? "
. " I wuz huntin' in de woods en hear a racket en clim'
er tree. En de Ku Kluxes had der meetin' right under
de tree. En I hear ev'ry word."
" Who was leading the crowd ? "
" Dat Allan McLeod, en Hose Norman."
" Where are they going to meet ? "
" Right at de cross-roads here at de school house at
mid-night. Dey sont er man atter plenty er licker en dey
gwine ter git drunk fust. I was erfeered ter come ter de
meetin' case I see er lot er de boys in de crowd. Fur
de Lawd sake, Preacher, do save de ole man. He des es
harmless ez er chile. En I'm gwine ter marry his gal,
en she des plum crazy. We'se got five men ter fight fur
'im but I spec dey kill 'em all ef you can't he'p us."
" ^.re you one of General Worth's negroes ? "
" Yassir. I run erway up here, 'bout dat Free'mens
Bureau trick dey put me up ter, but I'se larned better
sense now."
" Well, Sam, you go to Uncle Rufus and tell him not
to be afraid. I'll stop this business before night."
The negro stepped into the woods and disappeared.
" Charlie, we must hurry," said the Preacher springing
in his buggy. He was driving a beautiful bay mare, a
gift from a Kentucky friend. Her sleek glistening skin
and big round veins showed her fine blood.
" Well, Nancy, it's your life now or a man's, or maybe
a dozen. You must take us to Hambright in fifty min-
utes over these rough hills ! " cried the Preacher. And
he gave her the reins.
The mare bounded forward with a rush that sent four
spinning circles of sand and dust from each wheel. She
had seldom felt the lines slacken across her beautiful back
except in some great emergency. She swung past bug-
gies and wagons without a pause. The people wondered
The Danger of Playing with Fire 167
why the Preacher was in such a hurry. Over long sand
stretches of heavy road the mare flew in a cloud of dust.
The Preacher's lips were firmly set, and a scowl on his
brow. They had made five miles without slackening up.
The mare was now a mass of white foam, her big-
veined nostrils wide open and quivering, and her eyes
flashing with the fire of proud ancestry. The slackened
lines on her back seemed to her an insufferable insult !
" Doctor, you'll kill Nancy ! " pleaded Charlie.
" Can't help it, son, there's a lot of drunken devils,
masquerading as Ku Klux, going to kill a man to-night.
If we can't reach Major Dameron's in time for him to
get a lot of men and stop them there'll be a terrible
tragedy."
On the mare flew lifting her proud sensitive head
higher and higher, while her heart beat her foaming
flanks like a trip hammer. She never slackened her speed
for the ten miles," but dashed up to Major Dameron's
gate at sundown, just forty-nine minutes from the time
she started. The Preacher patted her dripping neck.
" Good, Nancy ! good ! I believe you've got a soul ! "
She stood with her head still high, pawing the
ground.
" Major Dameron, I've driven my mare here at a kill-
ing speed to tell you that young McLeod and Hose Nor-
man have a crowd of desperadoes organised to kill
old Rufus Lattimore to-night. You must get enough
men together, and get there in time to stop them. Sam
Worth overheard their plot, knows every one of them,
and there will be a battle if they attempt it."
" My God ! " exclaimed the Major.
" You haven't a minute to spare. They are already
loading up on moonshine whiskey."
" Doctor Durham, this is the end of the Ku Klux Klan
in this county. I'll break up every lodge in thr next
1 68 The Leopard's Spots
forty-eight hours. It's too easy for vicious men to abuse
it. Its power is too great. Besides its work is done."
" I was just going to ask you to take that step, Major.
And now for God's srl^e get there in time to-night. I'd
go with you but try mr<*e can't stand it."
" I'll be there on time. Never fear," replied the Major,
springing on his horse already saddled at the door.
The Preacher drove slowly to his home, the mare pull-
ing steadily on her lines. She walked proudly into her
stable lot, her head high and fine eyes flashing, reeled
and fell dead in the shafts ! The Preacher couldn't keep
back the tears. He called Dick and left him and Charlie
the sorrowful task of taking r 3 her harness. He hurried
irito the house and shi t himself up in his study.
That night when the crowd of young toughs assembled
at their rendezvous it was barely ten o'clock.
Suddenly a pistol shot rang from behind the school-
house, and before McLeod and his crowd knew what had
happened fifty white horsemen wheeled into a circle about
them. They were completely surprised and cowed.
Major Dameron rode up to McLeod.
" Young man, you are the prisoner of the Chief of the
Ku Klux Klan of Campbell county. Lift your hand now
and I'll hang you in five minutes. You have forfeited
your life by disobedienca to my orders. You go back to
Hambright with me under guard. Whether I execute
you depends on the outcome of the next two days' con-
ferences with the chiefs of the township lodges."
The Major wheeled his horse and rode home. The
next day he ordered every one of the eleven township
chiefs to report in person to him, at different hours the
same day. To each one his message was the same. He
dissolved the order and issued a perpetual injunction
against any division of the Klan ever going on another
raid.
The Danger of Playing with Fire 169
There were only a few who could see the wisdom of
such hasty action. The success had been so marvellous,
their power so absolute, it seemed a pity to throw it all
away. Young Kline especially begged the Major to post-
pone his action. % ;
" It's impossible Kline. The Klan has done its work.
The carpet-baggers have fled. The state is redeemed
from the infamies of a negro government, and we have
a clean economical administration, and we can keep it
so as long as the white people are a unit without any
secret societies."
" But, Major, we may be needed again."
" I can't assume the responsibility any longer. The
thing is getting beyond my control. The order is full of
wild youngsters and revengeful men. They try to bring
their grudges against neighbours into the order, and when
I refuse to authorise a raid, they take their disguises and
go without authority. An archangel couldn't command
such a force."
Within two weeks from the dissolution of the Klan by
its Chief, every lodge had been reorganised. Some of
the older men had dropped out, but more young men
were initiated to take their places. Allan McLeod led
in this work of prompt reorganisation, and was elected
Chief of the county by the younger element which now
had a large majority. % ;'
He at once served notice on Major Dameron, the
former Chief, that if he dared to interfere with his work
even by opening his mouth in criticism, he would order
a raid, and thrash him.
When the Major found this note under his door one
morning, he read and re-read it with increasing wrath.
Springing on his horse he went in search of McLeod.
He saw him leisurely crossing the street going from the
hotel to the court house.
170 The Leopard's Spots
Throwing his horse's rein to a passing boy, he walked
rapidly to him and, without a word, boxed his ears as a
father would an impudent child. McLeod was so as-
tonished, he hesitated for a moment whether to strike or
to run. He did neither, but blushed red and stam-
mered,
" What do you mean, sir ? "
" Read that letter, you young whelp ! " The Major
thrust the letter into his hand.
" I know nothing of this."
" You're a liar. You are its author. No other fool
in this county would have conceived it. Now, let me give
you a little notice. I am prepared for you and your
crowd. Call any time. I can whip a hundred puppies of
your breed any time by myself with one hand tied be-
hind me, and never get a scratch. Dare to lift your
finger against me, or any of the men who refused to go
with your new fool's movement, and I'll shoot you on
sight as I would a mad dog." Before McLeod could
reply, the Major turned on his heels and left him.
McLeod made no further attempt to molest the Major,
nor did he allow any raids bent on murder. The sud-
den authority placed in his hands in a measure sobered
him. He inaugurated a series of petty deviltries, whipping
negroes and poor white men against whom some of his
crowd had a grudge, and annoying the school teachers
of negro schools.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE BIRTH OF A SCALAWAG
THE overwhelming defeat of their pets in the
South, and the toppling of their houses of
paper built on Negro supremacy, brought to
Congress a sense of guilt and shame, that required action.
Their own agents in the South were now in the peni-
tentiary or in exile for well established felonies, and the
future looked dark.
They found the scapegoat in these fool later day Ku
Klux marauders. Once more the public square at Ham-
bright saw the bivouac of the regular troops of the
United States Army. The Preacher saw the glint of
their bayonets with a sense of relief.
With this army came a corps of skilled detectives, who
set to work. All that was necessary, was to arrest and
threaten with summary death a coward, and they got all
the information he could give. The jail was choked with
prisoners and every day saw a squad depart for the
stockade at Independence. Sam Worth gave informa-
tion that led to the immediate arrest of Allan McLeod.
He was the first man led into the jail.
The officers had a long conference with him that lasted
four hours.
And then the bottom fell out. A wild stampede
of young men for the West! Somebody who held
the names of every man in the order had proved a
traitor.
172 The Leopard's Spots
Every night from hundreds of humble homes might
be heard the choking sobs of a mother saying good-bye in
the darkness to the last boy the war had left her old age.
When the good-bye was said, and the father, waiting in
the buggy at the gate, had called for haste, and the boy
was hurrying out with his grip-sack, there was a moan, the
soft rush of a coarse homespun dress toward the gate
and her arms were around his neck again.
" I can't let you go, child ! Lord have mercy ! He's
the last ! " And the low pitiful sobs !
" Come, come, now Ma, we must get away from here
before the officers are after him ! "
" Just a minute ! "
A kiss, and then another long and lingering. A sigh,
and then a smothered choking cry from a mother's broken
heart and he was gone.
Thus Texas grew into the Imperial Commonwealth of
the South.
To save appearance McLeod was removed to Independ-
ence with the other prisoners, and in a short time re-
leased, with a number of others against whom insignifi-
cant charges were lodged.
When he returned to Hambright the people looked at
him with suspicion.
" How is it, young man," asked the Preacher, " that
you are at home so soon, while brave boys are serving
terms in Northern prisons ? "
" Had nothing against me," he replied.
" That's strange, when Sam Worth swore that you or-
ganised the raid to kill Rufe Lattimore."
" They didn't believe him."
" Well, I've an idea that you saved your hide by puking.
I'm not sure yet, but information was given that only
The Birth of a Scalawag 173
the man in command of the whole county could have
possessed."
" There were a half-dozen men who knew as much as
I did. You mustn't think me capable of such a thing,
Dr. Durham ! " protested McLeod with heightened colour.
" It's a nasty suspicion. I'd rather see a child of mine
transformed into a cur dog, and killed for stealing sheep,
than fall to the level of such a man. But only time will
prove the issue."
" I've made up my mind to turn over a new leaf," said
McLeod. " I'm sick of rowdyism. I'm going to be a law-
abiding, loyal citizen."
"That's just what I'm afraid of!" exclaimed the
Preacher with a sneer as he turned and left him.
And his fears were soon confirmed. Within a month
the Independence Observer contained a dispatch from
Washington announcing the appointment of Allan Mc-
Leod a Deputy United States Marshal for the District of
Western North Carolina, together with the information
that he had renounced his allegiance to his old disloyal
associates, and had become an enthusiastic Republican;
and that henceforth he would labour with might and main
to establish peace and further the industrial progress of
the South.
" I knew it. The dirty whelp ! " cried the Preacher,
as he showed the paper to his wife.
" Now don't be too hard on the boy, Doctor Durham,"
urged his wife. " He may be sincere in his change of
politics. You never did like him."
" Sincere ! yes, as the devil is always sincere. He's
dead in earnest now. He's found his level, and his suc-
cess is sure. Mark my words the boy's a villain from
the crown of his head to the soles of his feet. He has
bartered his soul to save his skin, and the skin is all
that's left,"
174 The Leopard's Spots
" I'm sorry to think it. I couldn't help liking him."
" And that's the funniest freak I ever knew your fancy
to take, my dear, — I never could understand it."
When McLeod had established his office in Hambright,
he made special efforts to allay the suspicions against
his name. His indignant denials of the report of his
treachery convinced many that he had been wronged.
Two men alone, maintained toward him an attitude of
contempt, Major Dameron and the Preacher.
He called on Mrs. Durham, and with his smooth tongue
convinced her that he had been foully slandered. She
urged him to win the Doctor. Accordingly he called to
talk the question over with the Preacher and ask him
for a fair chance to build his character untarnished in the
community.
The Preacher heard him through patiently, but in
silence. Allan was perspiring before he reached the end
of his plausible explanation. It was a tougher task than
he thought, this deliberate lying, under the gaze of those
glowing black eyes that looked out from their shaggy
brows and pierced through his inmost soul.
" You've got an oily tongue. It will carry you a long
way in this world. I can't help admiring the skill with
which you are fast learning to use it. You've fooled
Mrs. Durham with it, but you can't fool me," said the
Preacher.
" Doctor, I solemnly swear to you I am not guilty."
" It's no use to add perjury to plain lying. I know
you did it. I know it as well as if I were present in that
jail and heard you basely betray the men, name by name,
whom you had lured to their ruin."
" Doctor, I swear you are mistaken ! "
" Bah ! Don't talk about it. You nauseate me ! "
The Preacher sprang to his feet, paced across the floor,
sat down on the edge of his table and glared at McLeod
The Birth of a Scalawag 175
for a moment. And then with his voice low and quiver-
ing with a storm of emotion he said,
" The curse of God upon you — the God of your fath-
ers ! Your fathers in far-off Scotland's hills, who would
have suffered their tongues torn from their heads and
their skin stripped inch by inch from their flesh sooner
than betray one of their clan in distress. You have be-
trayed a thousand of your own men, and you, their sworn
chieftain ! Hell was made to consume such leper trash ! "
McLeod was dazed at first by this outburst. At length
he sprang to his feet livid with rage.
" I'll not forget this, sir! " he hissed.
" Don't forget it ! " cried the Preacher trembling with
passion as he opened the door. " Go on and live your
lie. "
CHAPTER XXIV
A MODERN MIRACLE
U Tt IJf RS. DURHAM, the Doctor wants you," said
\\\ Charlie when McLeod's footfall had died
-*--•- away.
" Charlie, dear, why don't you call me ' Mama ' —
surely you love me a little wee bit, don't you ? " she asked,
taking the boy's hand tenderly in hers.
" Yes'm," he replied hanging his head.
" Then do say Mama. You don't know how good it
would be in my ears."
" I try to but it chokes me," he half whispered, glanc-
ing timidly up at her. " Let me call you Aunt Margaret,
I always wanted an aunt and I think your name Mar-
garet's so sweet," he shyly added.
She kissed him and said, " All right, if that's all you
will give me." She passed on into the library where the
Preacher waited her.
a My dear, I've just given young McLeod a piece of
my mind. I wanted to say to you that you are entirely
mistaken in his character. He's a bad egg. I know all
the facts about his treachery. He's as smooth a liar as
I've met in years."
" With all his brute nature, there's some good in him,"
she persisted.
" Well, it will stay in him. He will never let it get
out."
" All right, have your way about it for the time. We'll
A Modern Miracle 177
see who is right in the long run. Now I've a more press-
ing and tougher problem for your solution."
"What is it?"
" Dick."
"What's he done this time?"
" He steals everything he can get his hands on."
" He is a puzzle."
" He's the greatest liar I ever saw," she continued.
" He simply will not tell the truth if he can think up
a lie in time. I'd say run him off the place, but for
Charlie. He seems to love the little scoundrel. I'm
afraid his influence over Charlie will be vicious, but it
would break the child's heart to drive Him away. What
shall we do with him ? "
The Preacher laughed. " I give it up, my dear, you've
got beyond my depth now. I don't know whether he's
got a soul. Certainly the very rudimentary foundations
of morals seem lacking. I believe you could take a young
ape and teach him quicker. I leave him with you. At
present it's a domestic problem."
" Thanks, that's so encouraging."
Dick was a puzzle and no mistake about it. But to
Charlie his rolling mischievous eyes, his cunning fingers
and his wayward imagination were unfailing fountains
of life. He found every bird's nest within two miles of
town. He could track a rabbit almost as swiftly and
surely as a hound. He could work like fury when he had
a mind to, and loaf a half day over one row of the garden
when he, didn't want to work, which was his chronic
condition.
When the revival season set in for the negroes in the
summer, the days of sorrow began for householders.
Every negro in the community became absolutely worth-
less and remained so until the emotional insanity attend-
ing their meetings wore off.
178 The Leopard's Spots
Aunt Mary, Mrs. Durham's cook, got salvation over
again every summer with increasing power and increas-
ing degeneration in her work. Some nights she got home
at two o'clock and breakfast was not ready until nine.
Some nights she didn't get home at all, and Mrs. Dur-
ham had to get breakfast herself.
It was a hard time for Dick who had not yet experi-
enced religion, and on whom fell the brunt of the extra
work and Mrs. Durham's fretfulness besides.
" I tell you what less do, Charlie ! " he cried one day.
" Less go down ter dat nigger chu'ch, en bus' up de
meetin' ! I'se gettin' tired er dis."
"How'llyou doit?"
" I show you somefin' ? " He reached under his shirt
next to his skin, and pulled out Dr. Graham's sun
glass.
"Where'd you get that, Dick?"
" Foun' it whar er man lef it." He walled his eyes
solemnly.
" Des watch here when I turns 'im in de sun. I kin
set dat pile er straw er fire wid it ! "
" You mustn't set the church afire ! " warned Charlie.
" Naw, chile, but I git up in de gallery, en when ole
Uncle Josh gins ter holler en bawl en r'ar en charge, I
fling dat blaze er light right on his bar haid, en I set him
afire sho's you bawn ! "
" Dick, I wouldn't do it," said Charlie, laughing in spite
of himself.
Charlie refused to accompany him. But Dick's mind
was set on the necessity of this work of reform. So in the
afternoon he slipped off without leave and quietly made
his way into the gallery of the Negro Baptist church.
The excitement was running high. Uncle Josh had
preached one sermon an hour in length, and had called
up the mourners. At least fifty had come forward. The
A Modern Miracle 179
benches had been cleared for five rows back from the
pulpit to give plenty of room for the mourners to crawl
over the floor, walk back and forth and shout when they
" came through," and for their friends to fan them.
This open place was covered with wheat straw to keep
the mourners off the bare floor, and afford some sort of
comfort for those far advanced in mourning, who went
into trances and sometimes lay motionless for hours on
their backs or flat on their faces.
The mourners had kicked and shuffled this straw out to
the edges and the floor was bare. Uncle Josh had sent
two deacons out for more straw.
'In the meantime he was working himself up to an-
other mighty climax of exhortation to move sinners to
come forward.
" Come on ter glory you po, po sinners, en flee ter de
Lamb er God befo de flames er hell swaller you whole!
At de last great day de Sperit 11 flash de light er his
shinin' face on dis ole parch up sinful worl', en hit '11
ketch er fire in er minute, an de yearth '11 melt wid fur-
vient heat! Whar '11 you be den po tremblin' sinner?
Whar '11 you be when de flame er de Sperit smites de
moon and de stars wid fire, en dey gin ter drap outen
de sky en knock big holes in de burnin' yearth? Whar
'11 you be when de rocks melt wid dat heat, en de sun
hide his face in de black smoke dat rise fum de pit? "
Moans and groans and shrieks, louder and louder filled
the air. Uncle Josh paused a moment and looked for his
deacons with the straw. They were just coming up the
steps with a great armful over their heads.
" What's de matter wid you breddern ! Fetch on dat
wheat straw! Here's dese tremblin' souls gwine down
inter de flames er hell des fur de lak er wheat straw ! "
The brethren hurried forward with the wheat straw,
and just as they reached Uncle Josh standing perspiring
i8o The Leopard's spots
in the midst of his groaning mourners, Dick flashed from
the gallery a stream of dazzling light on the old man's
face and held it steadily on his bald head. Josh was too
astonished to move at first. He was simply paralysed
with fear. It was all right to talk about the flame of the
Spirit, but he wasn't exactly ready to run into it. Sud-
denly he clapped his hands on the top of his head and
sprang straight up in the air yelling in a plain everyday
profane voice,
" God-der-mighty ! What's dat ? "
The brethren holding the straw saw it and stood dumb
with terror. The light disappeared from Uncle Josh's
head and lit the straw in splendour on one of the deacon's
shoulders. Aunt Mary's voice was heard above the
mourners' din, clear, shrill and soul piercing.
" G-1-o-r-y ! G-1-o-r-y ter God ! De flame er de
Sperit! De judgment day! Yas Lawd, I'se here! Glory!
Halleluyah!"
Suddenly the straw on the deacon's back burst into
flames! And pandemonium broke loose. A weak-
minded sinner screamed,
"De flames er Hell!"
The mourners smelled the smoke and sprang from the
floor with white staring eyes. When they saw the fire
and got their bearings they made for the open, — they
jumped on each others' back and made for the door like
madmen. Those nearest the windows sprang through,
and when the lower part of the window was jammed, big
buck negroes jumped on the backs of the lower crowd
and plunged through the two upper sashes with a crash
that added new terror to the panic.
In two minutes the church was empty, and the yard
Ml of crazy, shouting negroes.
Dick stepped from the gallery into the crowd
as the last ones emerged, ran up to the pulpit and
A Modern Miracle 18*
stamped out the fire in the straw with his bare feet. He
looked around to see if they had left anything valuable
behind in the stampede, and sauntered leisurely out of
the church.
" Now dog-gone 'em let 'em yell ! " he muttered to
himself.
When Uncle Josh sufficiently recovered his senses to
think, and saw the church still standing, with not even
a whiff of smoke to be seen, instead of the roaring fur-
nace he had expected, he was amazed. He called his
scattered deacons together and they went cautiously back
to investigate.
" Hit's no use in talkin' Bre'r Josh, dey sho wuz er
fire ! " cried one of the deacons.
" Sho's de Lawd's in heaben. I feel it gittin' on my
fingers fo I drap dat straw ! " said another.
" Hit smite me fust right on top er my haid ! "
whispered Uncle Josh in awe.
They cautiously approached the pulpit and there in
front of it lay the charred fragments of the burned straw
pile.
They gathered around it in awe-struck wonder. One
of them touched it with his foot.
" Doan do dat ! " cried Uncle Josh, lifting his hand
with authority.
They drew back, Uncle Josh saw the immense power
in that heap of charred straw. Some of it was a little
damp and it had been only partly burned.
" Dar's de mericle er de Sperit ! " he solemnly de-
clared.
" Yas Lawd ! " echoed a deacon.
" Fetch de hammer, en de saw, en de nails, en de
boards en build right dar en altar ter de Sperit ! " were
his prophetic commands.
And they did. They got an old show case of glass,
182 The Leopard's Spots
but the charred straw in it, and built an open box work
around it just where it fell in front of the pulpit.
Then a revival broke out that completely paralysed the
industries of Campbell county. Every negro stopped
work and went to that church. Uncle Josh didn't have
to preach or to plead. They came in troops towards the
magic altar, whose fame and mystery had thrilled every
superstitious soul with its power. The benches were all
moved out and the whole church floor given up to mourn-
ers. Uncle Josh had an easy time walking around just
adding a few terrifying hints to trembling sinners, or
helping to hold some strong sister when she had " come
through," with so much glory in her bones that there
was danger she would hurt somebody.
After a week the matter became so serious that the
white people set in motion an investigation of the affair.
Dick had thrown out a mysterious hint that he knew
some things that were very funny.
" Doan you tell nobody ! " he would solemnly say to
Charlie.
And then he would lie down on the grass and roll and
laugh. At length by dint of perseverance, and a bribe
of a quarter, the Preacher induced Dick to explain the
mystery. He did, and it broke up the meeting.
Uncle Josh's fury knew no bounds. He was heart-
broken at the sudden collapse of his revival, chagrined at
the recollection of his own terror at the fire, and fearful
of an avalanche of backsliders from the meeting among
those who had professed even with the greatest glory.
He demanded that the Preacher should turn Dick over
to him for correction. The Preacher took a few hours to
consider whether he should whip him himself or turn
him over to Uncle Josh. Dick heard Uncle Josh's de-
mand. Out behind the stable he and Charlie held a
council of war.
A Modern Miracle 183
" You go see Miss Mar 'get fur me, en git up close to
her, en tell her taint right ter 'low no low down black
nigger ter whip me ! "
" All right Dick, I will," agreed Charlie.
" Case ef ole Josh beats me I gwine ter run away. I
nebber git ober dat. "
Dick had threatened to run away often before when
he wanted to force Charlie to do something for him.
Once he had gone a mile out of town with his clothes
tied in a bundle, and Charlie trudging after him begging
him not to leave. •
The boy did his best to save Dick the humiliation of a
whipping at the hands of Uncle Josh, but in vain.
When Uncle Josh led him out to the stable lot, his
face was not pleasant to look upon. There was a dan-
gerous gleam in Dick's eye that boded no good to his
enemy.
" You imp er de debbil ! " exclaimed Uncle Josh shak-
ing his switch with unction. *
" I fool you good enough, you ole bal' headed ape ! "
answered Dick gritting his teeth defiantly.
" I make you sing enudder chune fo I'se done wid
you "
" En if you does, nigger, you know what I gwine do
fur you ? " cried Dick rolling his eyes up at his enemy.
" What kin you do, honey ? asked Uncle Josh, humour-
ing his victim now with the evident relish of a cat before
his meal on a mouse.
" Ef you hits me hard, I gwine ter burn you house
down on you haid some night, en run erway des es sho
es I kin stick er match to it," said Dick.
" You is, is you ? " thundered Josh with wrath.
" Dat I is. En I burn yo ole chu'ch de same night."
Uncle Josh was silent a moment. Dick's words
had chilled his heart. He was afraid of him, but he was
184 The Leopard's Spots
afraid to back down from what was now evidently his
duty. So without further words he whipped him. Yet
to save his life he could not hit him as hard as he thought
he deserved.
That night Dick disappeared from Hambright, and
for weeks every evening at dusk the wistful face of
Charlie Gaston could be seen on the big hill to the south
of town vainly watching for somebody. He would
always take something to eat in his pockets, and when
he gave up his vigil he would place the food under a
big shelving rock where they had often played together.
But the birds and ground squirrels ate it. He would
slip back the next day hoping to see Dick jump out of
the cave and surprise him.
And then at last he gave it up, sat down under the
rock and cried. He knew Dick would grow to be a man
somewhere out in the big world and never come back.
LOVE'S DREAM
ffioofc Uwo— Xcwe's Bream
CHAPTER I
BLUE EYES AND BLACK HAIR
k £ >| HE'S coming next month, Charlie," said Mrs.
Durham, looking up from a letter.
" Who is it now, Auntie, another divinity
with which you are going to overwhelm me ? " asked
Gaston smiling as he laid his book down and leaned back
in his chair.
" Some one I've been telling you about for the last
month."
"Which one?"
" Oh, you wretch ! You don't think about anything
except your books. I've been dinning that girl's praises
into your ears for fully five weeks, and you look at me in
that innocent way and ask which one ? "
" Honestly, Aunt Margaret, you're always telling me
about some beautiful girl, I get them mixed. And then
when I see them, they don't come up to the advance no-
tices you've sent out. To tell you the truth, you are
such a beautiful woman, and I've got so used to your
standard, the girls can't measure up to it."
" You flatterer. A woman of forty-two a standard of
beauty! Well, it's sweet to hear you say it, you hand-
some young rascal."
" It's the honest truth. You are one of the women
who never show the addition of a year. You have
spoiled my eyesight for ordinary girls."
1 88 The Leopard's Spots
" Hush, sir, you don't dare to talk to any girl like you
talk to me. They all say you're afraid of them."
" Well, I am, in a sense. I've been disappointed so
many times."
" Oh ! you'll find her yet and when you do ! " —
" What do you think will happen ? "
" I'm certain you will be the biggest fool in the state."
"That will make it nice for the girl, won't it?"
" Yes, and I shall enjoy your antics. You who have
dissected love with your brutal German philosophy, and
found every girl's faults with such ease, — it will be fun
to watch you flounder in the meshes at last. "
" Auntie, seriously, it will be the happiest day of my
life. For four years my dreams have been growing more
and more impossible. Who is this one? "
" She is the most beautiful girl I know, and the bright-
est and the best, and if she gets hold of you she will clip
your wings and bring you down to earth. I'll watch you
with interest," said Mrs. Durham looking over the letter
again and laughing.
" What are you laughing at ? "
" Just a little joke she gets off in this letter."
" But who is she ? You haven't told me."
" I did tell you — she's General Worth's daughter, Miss
Sallie. She writes she is coming up to spend a month
at the Springs, with her friend Helen Lowell, of Boston,
and wants me to corral all the young men in the com-
munity and have them fed and in fine condition for work
when they arrive."
" She evidently intends to have a good time."
" Yes, and she will."
" Fortunately my law practice is not rushing me at
this season. My total receipts for June last year were
two dollars and twenty-five cents. It will hardly go over
two-fifty this year."
Blue Eyes and Black Hair 189
" I've told her you're a rising young lawyer."
" I have plenty of room to rise, Auntie. If you will
just keep on letting me board with you, I hope to work
my practice up to ten dollars a month in the course of
time."
" Don't you want to hear something about Miss
Sallie?"
" Of course, I was just going to ask you if she's as
homely as that last one you tried to get off on me."
" I've told you she's a beauty. She made a sensation
at her finishing school in Baltimore. It's funny that she
was there the last year you were at the Johns Hopkins
University. She's the belle of Independence, rich, petted,
and the only child of old General Worth, who thinks the
sun rises and sets in her pretty blue eyes."
"So she has blue eyes?"
" Yes, blue eyes and black hair."
" What a funny combination ! I never saw a girl with
blue eyes and black hair."
" It's often seen in the far South. I expect you to be
drowned in those blue eyes. They are big, round and
child-like, and look out of their black lashes as though
surprised at their dark setting. This contrast accents their
dreamy beauty, and her eyes seem to swim in a dim blue
mist like the point where the sea and sky meet on the
horizon far out on the ocean. She is bright, witty, ro-
mantic and full of coquetry. She is determined to live
her girl's life to its full limit. She is fond of society
and dances divinely."
" That's bad. I never even cut the pigeon's wing in
my life — and I'm too old to learn."
" She has a full queenly figure, small hands and feet,
delicate wrists, a dimple in one cheek only, and a mass
of brown-black hair that curls when it's going to
rain."
190 The Leopard's Spots
" That's fine, we wouldn't need a barometer on life's
voyage, would we ? "
" No, but you will be looking for a pilot and a harbour
before you've known her a month. Her upper lip is a
little fuller and projects slightly over the lower, and they
are both beautifully fluted and curved like the petals of
a flower, which makes the most tantalising mouth a stand-
ing challenge for a kiss."
" Oh ! Auntie, you're joking ! You never saw such
a girl. You're breaking into my heart, stealing glances
at my ideal."
" All right, sir, wait and see for yourself. She has
pretty shell-like ears, her laughter is full, contagious, and
like music. She plays divinely on the piano, can't sing
a note, but dresses to kill. You might as well wind up
your affairs, and get ready for the first serious work of
your life. You will have your hands full after you see
her."
" But did I understand you to say she's rich ? "
" Yes, they say her father is worth half a million."
" Do you think she could be interested in the poor in
this county ? "
" Yes, she doesn't seem to know she's an heiress. Her
father, the General, is a deacon in the Baptist church at
Independence, and hates dudes and fops with all his old-
fashioned soul. His idea of a man is one of character,
and the capacity of achievement, not merely a possessor
of money. Still, I imagine he is going to give any man
trouble who tries to take his daughter away from
him."
" I'm afraid that money lets me out of the race."
" Nothing of the sort, when you see her you will never
allow a little thing like that to worry you."
" It's not her dollars that will worry me. It's the fact
that she's got them and I haven't. But, anyhow, Auntie,
Blue Eyes and Black Hay 191
from your description you can book me for one night at
least."
"I'm going to book you for her lackey, her slave, de-
voted to her every whim while she's here. One night —
the idea ! "
u Auntie, you're too generous to others. I've no no-
tion all this rigmarole about your Miss Sallie Worth is
true. But I'll do anything to please you."
" Very well, I'll see whom you are trying to please
later."
" I must go," said Gaston, hastily rising. I have an
engagement to discuss the coming political campaign
with the Hon. Allan McLeod, the present Republican
boss of the state."
" I didn't know you hobnobbed with the enemy."
" I don't. But as far as I can understand him, he pur-
poses to take me up on an exceeding high mountain and
offer me the world and the fulness thereof. We all like
to be tempted whether we fall or not. The Doctor hates
McLeod. I think he holds some grudge against him.
What do you think of him, Auntie? He swears by you.
I used to dislike him as a boy, but he seems a pretty de-
cent sort of fellow now, and I can't help liking just a
little anybody who loves you. I confess he has a fascina-
tion for me."
" Why do you ask my opinion of him ? " slowly asked
Mrs. Durham.
" Because I'm not quite sure of his honesty. He talks
fairly, but there's something about him that casts a doubt
over his fairest words. He says he has the most import-
ant proposition of my life to place before me to-day, and
I'm at a loss how to meet him — whether as a well-mean-
ing friend or a scheming scoundrel. He's a puzzle to
me."
" Well, Charlie, I don't mind telling you that he is a
192 The Leopard's Spots
puzzle to me. I've always been strangely attracted to
him, even when he was a big red-headed brute of a boy.
The Doctor always disliked him and I thought, mis-
judged him. He has always paid me the supremest
deference, and of late years the most subtle flattery. No
woman, who feels her life a failure, as I do mine, can be
indifferent to such a compliment from a man of trained
mind and masterful character. This is a sore subject
between the Doctor and myself. And when I see him
shaking hands a little too lingeringly with admiring sis-
ters after his services, I repay him with a chat with my
devoted McLeod. Don't ask me. I like him, and I
don't like him. I admire him and at the same time I
suspect and half fear him."
" Strange we feel so much alike about him. But
your heart has always been very close to mine,
since you slipped your arm around me that night my
mother died. I know about what he will say, and I know
about what I'll do." He stooped and kissed his foster-
mother tenderly.
" Charlie, I'm in earnest about my pretty girl that's
coming. Don't forget it."
"Bah! You've fooled me before."
CHAPTER II
THE VOICE OF THE TEMPTER
McLEOD was waiting with some impatience in
his room at the hotel.
" Walk in Gaston, you're a little late. How-
ever, better late than never." McLeod plunged directly
into the purpose of his visit.
" Gaston you're a man of brains, and oratorical genius.
I heard your speech in the last Democratic convention
in Raleigh, and I don't say it to flatter you, that was the
greatest speech made in any assembly in this state since
the war."
" Thanks ! " said Gaston with a wave of his arm.
" I mean it. You know too much to be in sympathy
with the old moss-backs who are now running this state.
For fourteen years, the South has marched to the polls
and struck blindly at the Republican party, and three
times it struck to kill. The Southern people have noth-
ing in common with these Northern Democrats who make
your platforms and nominate your candidate. You don't
ask anything about the platform or the man. You would
vote for the devil if the Democrats nominated him, and
ask no questions; and what infuriates me is you vote to
enforce platforms that mean economic ruin to the South."
" Man shall not live by bread alone, McLeod."
" Sure, but he can't live on dead men's bones. You
vote in solid mass on the Negro question, which you
settled by the power of Anglo-Saxon insolence when
you destroyed the Reconstruction governments at a blow.
193
194 The Leopard's Spots
Why should you keep on voting against every interest
of the South, merely because you hate the name Re-
publican ? "
" Why? Simply because so long as the Negro is here
with a ballot in his hands he is a menace to civilisation.
The Republican party placed him here. The name Re-
publican will stink in the South for a century, not be-
cause they beat us in war, but because two years after
the war, in profound peace, they inaugurated a second
war on the unarmed people of the South, butchering the
starving, the wounded, the women and children. God
in heaven, will I ever forget that day they murdered my
mother! Their attempt to establish v/ith the bayonet an
African barbarism on the ruins of Southern society was
a conspiracy against human progress. It was the black-
est crime of the nineteenth century."
" You are talking in a dead language. We are living
in a new world."
" But principles are eternal."
" Principles ? I'm not talking about principles. I'm
talking about practical politics. The people down here
haven't voted on a principle in years. They've been vot-
ing on old Simon Legree. He left the state nearly a
quarter of a century ago."
" Yes, McLeod, but his soul has gone marching on.
The Republican party fought the South because such
men as Legree lived in it, and abused the negroes, and
the moment they won, turn and make Legree and his
breed their pets. Simon Legree is more than a mere man
who stole five millions of dollars, alienated the races, and
covered the South with the desolation of anarchy. He is
an idea. He represents everything that the soul of the
South loathes, and that the Republican party has tried
to ram down our throats, Negro supremacy in politics,
and Negro equality in society."
The Voice of the Tempter 195
" You are talking about the dead past, Gaston. I'm
surprised at a man of your brain living under such a
delusion. How can there be Negro supremacy when they
are in a minority ? "
" Supremacy under a party system is always held by
a minority. The dominant faction of a party rules the
party, and the successful party rules the state. If the
Negro only numbered one-fifth the population and they
all belonged to one party, they could dictate the policy
of that party."
" You know that a few white brains really rule that
black mob."
" Yes, but the black mob defines the limits within which
you live and have your being."
" Gaston, the time has come to shake off this night-
mare, and face the issues of our day and generation. We
are going to win in this campaign, but I want you. I
like you. You are the kind of man we need now to take
the field and lead in this campaign."
" How are you going to win ? "
" We are going to form a contract with the Farmer's
Alliance and break the backbone of the Bourbon Democ-
racy of the South. The farmers have now a compact
body of 50,000 voters, thoroughly organised, and com-
bined with the negro vote we can hold this state until
Gabriel blows his trumpet."
" That's a pretty scheme. Our farmers are crazy now
with all sorts of fool ideas," said Gaston thought-
fully.
" Exactly, my boy, and we've got them by the nose."
"If you can carry through that programme, you've
got us in a hole."
" In a hole? I should say we've got you in the bottom-
less pit with the lid bolted down. You'll not even rise
at the day of judgment. It won't be necessary ! " laughed
196 The Leopard's Spots
McLeod, and as he laughed changed his tone in the midst
of his laughter.
" And what is the great proposition you have to make
to me ? " asked Gaston.
" Join with us in this new coalition, and stump the
state for us. Your fortune will be made, win or lose.
I'll see that the National Republican Committee pays you
a thousand dollars a week for your speeches, at least
five a week, two hundred dollars apiece. If we lose, you
will make ten thousand dollars in the canvass, and
stand in line for a good office under the National Ad-
ministration. If we win, I'll put you in the Governor's
Palace for four years. There's a tide in the affairs of
men, you know. It's at the flood at this moment for
you."
Gaston was silent a moment and looked thoughtfully
out of the window. The offer was a tremendous
temptation. A group of old fogies had dominated the
Democratic party for ten years, and had kept the younger
men down with their war cries and old soldier candi-
dates, until he had been more than once disgusted. He
felt as sure of McLeod's success as if he already saw it.
It was precisely the movement he had warned the old
pudding-head set against in the preceding compaign in
which they had deliberately alienated the Farmer's Alli-
ance. They had pooh poohed his warning and blundered
on to their ruin.
It was the dream of his life to have money enough to
buy back his mother's old home, beautify it, and live
there in comfort with a great library of books he would
gather. The possibility of a career at the state Capital
and then at Washington for so young a man was one of
dazzling splendour to his youthful mind. For the mo-
ment it seemed almost impossible to say no.
McLeod saw his hesitation and already smiled with the
The Voice of the Tempter 197
certainty of triumph. A cloud overspread his face when
Gaston at length said,
" I'll give you my answer to-morrow."
" All right, you're a gentleman. I can trust you. Our
conversation is of course only between you and me."
" Certainly, I understand that."
All that day and night he was alone fighting out the
battle in his soul. It was an easy solution of life that
opened before him. The attainment of his proudest am-
bitions lay within his grasp almost without a struggle.
Such a campaign, with his name on the lips of surging
thousands around those speaker's stands, was an idea
that fascinated him with a serpent charm.
All that he had to do was to give up his prejudices on
the Negro question. His own party stood for no princi-
ple except the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon. On the
issue of the party platforms, he was in accord with the
modern Republican utterances at almost every issue, and
so were his associates in the Southern Democracy. The
Negro was the point. What was the use now of per-
sisting in the stupid reiteration of the old slogan of white
supremacy? The Negro had the ballot. He was still
the ward of the nation, and likely to be for all time, so
far as he could see. The Negro was the one pet super-
stition of the millions who lived where no negro dwelt.
His person and his ballot were held more peculiarly
sacred and inviolate in the South than that of any white
man elsewhere.
The possibility of a reunion in friendly understanding
and sympathy between the masses of the North and the
masses of the South seemed remote and impossible in his
day and generation.
He asked himself the question, could such a revolu-
tion toward universal suffrage ever go backward, no
matter how base the motive which gave it birth? Why
198 The Leopard's Spots
not give up impracticable dreams, accept things as they
are, and succeed?
He did not confer with the Rev. John Durham on this
question, because he knew what his answer would be
without asking. A thousand times he had said to him,
with the emphasis he could give to words,
"My boy, the future American must be an Anglo-
Saxon or a Mulatto! We are now deciding which it
shall be. The future of the world depends on the future
of this Republic. This Republic can have no future if
racial lines are broken, and its proud citizenship sinks to
the level of a mongrel breed of Mulattoes. The South
must fight this battle to a finish. Two thousand years
look down upon the struggle, and two thousand years of
the future bend low to catch the message of life or
death!"
He could see now his drawn face with its deep lines
and his eyes flashing with passion as he said this. These
words haunted Gaston now with strange power as he
walked along the silent streets.
He walked down past his old home, stopped and leaned
on the gate, and looked at it long and lovingly. What a
flood of tender and sorrowful memories swept his soul!
He lived over again the days of despair when his mother
was an invalid. He recalled their awful poverty, and
then the last terrible day with that mob of negroes
trampling over the lawn and overrunning the house. He
saw the white face of his mother whose memory he loved
as he loved life. And now he recalled a sentence from
her dying lips. He had all but lost its meaning.
" You will grow to be a brave strong man. You will
fight this battle out, and win back our home, and bring
your own bride here in the far away days of sunshine
and success I see for you."
You will fight this battle out — he had almost lost that
The Voice of the Tempter 199
pentence in his hunger for that which followed. It came
to his soul now ringing like a trumpet call to honour and
duty.
He turned on his heel and walked rapidly home. He
looked at his watch. It was two o'clock in the morning.
" We will' fight it out on the old lines," he said to
McLeod next day.
" You will find me a pretty good fighter."
"Unto death, let it be," answered Gaston firmly set-
ting his lips.
" I admire your pluck, but I'm sorry for your judg-
ment. You know you're beaten before you begin."
" Defeat that's seen has lost its bitterness before it
comes."
" Then get ready the flowers for the funeral. I hoped
you would have better sense. You are one of the men
now I'll have to crush first, thoroughly, and for all time.
I'm not afraid of the old fools. I'll be fair enough to tell
you this," said McLeod.
" Not since Legree's day has the Republican party had
so dangerous a man at its head," said Gaston thoughtfully
to himself as McLeod strode away across the square.
" He has ten times the brains of his older master, and
none of his superstitions. He will give me a hard fight."
CHAPTER III
FLORA
HAMBRIGHT had changed but little in the eigh-
teen years of peace that had followed the
terrors of Legree's regime. The population
had doubled, though but few houses had been built. The
town had not grown from the development of industry,
but for a very simple reason — the country people had
moved into the town, seeking refuge from a new terror
that was growing of late more and more a menace to a
country home, the roving criminal negro.
The birth of a girl baby was sure to make a father
restless, and when the baby looked up into his face one
day with the soft light of a maiden, he gave up his farm
and moved to town.
The most important development of these eighteen
years was the complete alienation of the white and black
races as compared with the old familiar trust of domestic
life.
When Legree finished his work as the master artificer
of the Reconstruction Policy, he had dug a gulf between
the races as deep as hell. It had never been bridged.
The deed was done and it had crystallised into the solid
rock that lies at the basis of society. It was done at a
formative period, and it could no more be undone now
than you could roll the universe back in its course.
The younger generation of white men only knew the
Negro as an enemy of his people in politics and society.
200
Flora 201
He never came in contact with him except in menial
service, in which the service rendered was becoming
more and more trifling, and his habits more insolent.
He had his separate schools, churches, preachers and
teachers, and his political leaders were the beneficiaries
of Legree's legacies.
With the Anglo-Saxon race guarding the door of mar-
riage with fire and sword, the effort was being made to
build a nation inside a nation of two antagonistic races.
No such thing had ever been done in the history of the
human race, even under the development of the monar-
chial and aristocratic forms of society. How could it
be done under the formulas of Democracy with Equality
as the fundamental basis of law? And yet this was the
programme of the age.
Gaston was feeling blue from the reaction which fol-
lowed his temptation by McLeod. His duty was clear
the night before as he walked firmly homeward, recalling
the tragedy of the past. Now in the cold light of day,
the past seemed far away and unreal. The present was
near, pressing, vital. He laid down a book he was try-
ing to read, locked his office and strolled down town to
see Tom Camp.
This old soldier had come to be a sort of oracle to him.
His affection for the son of his Colonel was deep and
abiding, and his extravagant flattery of his talents and
future were so evidently sincere they always acted as a
tonic. And he needed a tonic to-day.
Tom was seated in a chair in his yard under a big
cedar, working on a basket, and a little golden-haired
girl was playing at his feet. It was his old home he had
lost in Legree's day, but had got back through the help
of General Worth, who came up one day and paid back
Tom's gift of lightwood in gleaming yellow metal. His
long hair and full beard were white now, and his eyes
2O2 The Leopard's Spots
had a soft deep look that told of sorrows borne in pa-
tience and faith beyond the ken of the younger man. It
was this look on Tom's face that held Gaston like a mag-
net when he was in trouble.
" Tom, I'm blue and heartsick. I've come down to
have you cheer me up a little."
"You've got the blues? Well that is a joke!" cried
Tom. " You, young and handsome, the best educated
man in the county, the finest orator in the state, life all
before you, and God fillin' the world to-day with sun-
shine and spring flowers, and all for you! You blue!
That is a joke." And Tom's voice rang in hearty
Daughter.
" Come here, Flora, and kiss me, you won't laugh at
me, will you ? "
The child climbed up into his lap, slipped her little
arms around his neck and hugged and kissed him.
" Now, once more, dearie, long and close and hard —
oh ! That's worth a pound of candy ! " Again she
squeezed his neck and kissed him, looking into his face
with a smile.
" I love you, Charlie," she said with quaint serious-
ness.
" Do you, dear ? Well, that makes me glad. If I can
win the love of as pretty a little girl as you I'm not a
failure, am I ? " And he smoothed her curls.
" Ain't she sweet ? " cried Tom with pride as he laid
aside his basket and looked at her with moistened
eyes.
" Tom, she's the sweetest child I ever saw. "
"Yes, she's God's last and best gift to me, to show
me He still loved me. Talk about trouble. Man, you're
a baby. You ain't cut your teeth yet. Wait till you've
seen some things I've seen. Wait till you've seen
the light of the world go out, and staggerin' in the
Flora 203
dark met the devil face to face, and looked him in the
eye, and smelled the pit. And then feel him knock you
down in it, and the red waves roll over you and smother
you. I've been there."
Tom paused and looked at Gaston. "You weren't
here when I come to the end of the world, the time when
that baby was born, and Annie died with the little red
bundle sleepin' on her breast. The oldest girl was mur-
dered by Legree's nigger soldiers. Then Annie give me
that little gal. Lord, I was the happiest old fool that
ever lived that day! And then when I looked into
Annie's dead face, I went down, down, down! But I
looked up from the bottom of the pit and I saw the light
of them blue eyes and I heard her callin' me to take
her. How I watched her and nursed her, a mother and
a father to her, day and night, through the long years,
and how them little fingers of hers got hold of my heart !
Now, I bless the Lord for all His goodness and mercy to
me. She will make it all right. She's going to be a lady
and such a beauty! She's goin' to school now, and me
and the General's goin' to take her ter college bye and
bye, and she's goin' to marry some big handsome fellow
like you, and her crippled grey haired daddy'll live in her
house in his old age. The Lord is my shepherd I shall
not want. "
" Tom, you make me ashamed."
"You ought to be, man, a youngster like you to talk
about gettin' the blues. What's all your education for? "
" Sometimes I think that only men like you have ever
been educated."
" G'long with your foolishness, boy. I ain't never had
a show in this world. The nigger's been on my back
since I first toddled into the world, and I reckon he'll ride
me into the grave. They are my only rivals now making
them baskets and they always undersell me."
2©4 The Leopard's Spots
Gaston started as Tom uttered the last sentence.
" With you, boy, it's all plain sailin'. You're the best
looking chap in the county. I was a dandy when I was
young. It does me good to look at you if you don't care
nothin' about fine clothes. Then you're as sharp as a
razor. There ain't a man in No'th Caliny that can stand
up agin you on the stump. I've heard 'em all. You'll be
the Governor of this state. "
That was always the climax of Tom's prophetic flattery.
He could think of no grander end of a human life than
to crown it in the Governor's Palace of North Carolina.
He belonged to the old days when it was a bigger thing to
be the Governor of a great state than to hold any office
short of the Presidency, — when men resigned seats in the
United States Senate to run for Governor, and when the
national government was so puny a thing that the bankers
of Europe refused to loan money on United States bonds
unless countersigned by the State of Virginia. And that
was not so long ago. The bankers sent that answer to
Buchanan's Secretary of the Treasury.
" Tom, you've lifted me out of the dumps. I owe you
a doctor's fee," cried Gaston with enthusiasm as he placed
Flora back on the grass and started to his office.
"All I charge you is to come again. The old man's
proud of his young friend. You make me feel like I'm
somebody in the old world after all. And some day
when you're great and rich and famous and the world's
full of your name, I'll tell folks I know you like my own
boy, and I'll brag about how many times you used to
come to see me."
" Hush, Tom, you make me feel silly," said Gaston as
he warmly pressed the old fellow's hand. He went back
toward his office with lighter step and more buoyant heart.
His mind was as clear as the noonday sun that was now
flooding the green fresh world with its splendour. He
Flora 205
would stand by his own people. He would sink or swim
with them. If poverty and failure were the result, let
it be so. If success came, all the better. There were
things more to be desired than gold.
CHAPTER IV
THE ONE WOMAN
G ASTON called at the post-office to get his mail.
One relief the Cleveland administration had
brought Hambright — a decent citizen in charge
of the post-office. Dave Haley had given place to a
Democrat and was now scheming and working with
McLeod for the " salvation " of »the state, which of
course meant for the old slave trader the restoration
of his office under a Republican administration. If
the South had held no other reason for hating the
Republican party, the character of the men appointed
to Federal office was enough to send every honest man
hurrying into the opposite party without asking any ques-
tions as to its principles.
Sam Love, the new postmaster was a jovial, honest,
lazy, good-natured Democrat whose ideal of a luxurious
life was attained in his office. He handed Gaston his mail
with a giggle.
"What's the matter with you, Sam?"
" Nuthin' 'tall. I just thought I'd tell you that I like
her handwriting," he laughed.
" How dare you study the handwriting on my letters,
sir!"
" What's the use of being postmaster ? There ain't no
big money in it. I just take pride in the office," said
Sam genially. "That's a new one, ain't it? "
Gaston looked at the letter incredulously. It was a
206
The One Woman 207
new one, — a big square envelope with a seal on the back
of it, addressed to him in the most delicate feminine hand,
and postmarked " Independence."
" Great Scott, this is interesting," he cried, breaking
the seal.
When the postmaster saw he was going to open it
right there in the office, he stepped around in front and
looking over his shoulder said,
"What is it, Charlie?"
" It's an invitation from the Ladies* Memorial Asso-
ciation to deliver the Memorial day oration at Independ-
ence the loth of May. That's great. No money in it,
but scores of pretty girls, big speech, congratulations, the
lion of the hour ! Don't you wish you were really a man
of brains, Sam ? "
" No, no, I'm married. It would be a waste now."
" Sam, I'll be there. Got the biggest speech of my
life all cocked and primed, full of pathos and eloquence,
— been working on it at odd times for four years. They'll
think it a sudden inspiration."
"What's the name of it?"
"The Message of the New South to the Glorious
Old."
" That sounds bully, that ought to fetch 'em."
" It will, my boy, and when Dave Haley gets this post-
office away from you in the dark days coming, I'll publish
that speech in a pamphlet, and you can peddle it at a
quarter and make a good living for your children."
" Don't talk like that, Gaston, that isn't funny at all.
You don't think the Radicals have got any chance? "
" Chance ! Between you and me they'll win."
Sam went back to the desk without another word, a
great fear suddenly darkening the future. McLeod had
gotten off the same joke on him the day before. It
sounded ominous coming from both sides like that He
208 The Leopard's Spots
took up his party paper, "The Old Timer's Gazette"
and read over again the sure prophecies of victory and
felt better.
Gaston accepted the invitation with feverish haste. He
had it all ready to put in the office for the return mail
to Independence. But he was ashamed to appear in such
a hurry, so he held the letter over until the next day.
He proudly showed the invitation to Mrs. Durham.
" What do you think of that, Auntie? "
" Immense . You will meet Miss Sallie sure. That
letter is in her handwriting. She's the Secretary of the
Association and signed the Committee's names."
" You don't say that's the great and only one's hand-
writing ! "
" Couldn't be mistaken. It has a delicate distinction
about it. I'd know it anywhere."
" It is beautiful," acknowledged Gaston looking
thoughtfully at the letter.
" I wish you had a new suit, Charlie."
" I wouldn't mind it myself, if I had the money.
But clothes don't interest me much, just so I'm fairly
decent."
" I'll loan you the money, if you will promise me to
devote yourself faithfully to Sallie."
" Never. I'll not sell my interest in all those acres of
pretty girls just for one I never saw and a suit of clothes.
No thanks. I'm going down there with a premonition I
may find Her of whom I've dreamed. They say that
town is full of beauties."
" You're so conceited. That's all the more reason you
should look your best."
" I don't care so much about looks. I'm going to do
my best, whatever I look."
" Oh, you know you're good looking and you don't
care,''' said his foster mother with pride.
The One Woman 209
On the loth of May Independence was in gala
robes. The long rows of beautiful houses, with dark
blue grass lawns on which giant oaks spread their cool
arms, were gay with bunting, and with flowers, flowers
everywhere ! Every urchin on the street and every man,
woman and child wore or carried flowers.
The reception committee met Gaston at the depot on
the arrival of the excursion train that ran from Ham-
bright. He was placed in an open carriage beside a hand-
some chattering society woman, and drawn by two pran-
cing horses, was escorted to the hotel, where he was intro-
duced to the distinguished old soldiers of the Confed-
eracy.
At ten o'clock the procession was formed. What a
sight ! It stretched from the hotel down the shaded pave-
ments a mile toward the cemetery, two long rows of beau-
tiful girls holding great bouquets of flowers. This long
double line of beauty and sweetness opened, and escorted
gravely by the oldest General of the Confederacy present,
he walked through this mile of smiling girls and flowers .
Behind him tramped the veterans, some with one arm,
some with wooden legs.
When they passed through, the double line closed,
and two and two the hundreds of girls carried their
flowers in solemn procession. Here was the throbbing
soul of the South, keeping fresh the love of her heroic
dead.
They spread out over the great cemetery like a host of
ministering angels. There was a bugle call. They bent
low a moment, and flowers were smiling over every grave
from the greatest to the lowliest .
And then to a stone altar marked " To the Unknown
Dead," they came and heaped up roses. Then a group
of sad-faced women dressed in black, with quaint little
bonnets wreathing their brows like nuns, went silently
a 10 The Leopard's Spots
over to the National Cemetery across the way and each
taking a basket, walked past the long lines of the dead
their boys had fought and dropped a single rose on every
soldier's grave. They were women whose boys were
buried in strange lands in lonely unmarked trenches.
They were doing now what they hoped some woman's
hand would do for their lost heroes.
The crowd silently gathered around the speakers' stand
and took their seats in the benches placed beneath the
trees.
Gaston had never seen this ceremony so lavishly and
beautifully performed before. He was overwhelmed
with emotion. His father's straight soldierly figure rose
before him in imagination, and with him all the silent hosts
that now bivouacked with the dead. His soul was melted
with the infinite pathos and pity of it all.
He had intended to say some sharp epigrammatic
things that would cut the chronic moss-backs that cling to
the platforms on such occasions. But somehow when he
began they were melted out of his speech. He spoke with
a tenderness and reverence that stilled the crowd in a
moment like low music.
His tribute to the dead was a poem of rhythmic and<
exalted thoughts. The occasion was to him an inspira-'
tion and the people hung breathless on his words. His
voice was never strained but was penetrated and thrilled
with thought packed until it burst into the flame of speech.
He felt with conscious power his mastery of his audience.
He was surprised at his own mood of extraordinary ten-
derness as he felt his being softened by that oldest re-
ligion of the ages, the worship of the dead — as old as
sorrow and as everlasting as death! He was for the
moment clay in the hands of some mightier spirit above
him.
He had spoken perhaps fifteen minutes when suddenly,
The One Woman HI
straight in front of him, he looked into the face of the
One Woman of all his dreams !
There she sat as still as death, her beautiful face tense
with breathless interest, her fluted red lips parted as if
half in wonder, half in joy, over some strange revelation,
and her great blue eyes swimming in a mist of tears . He
smiled a look of recognition into her soul and she an-
swered with a smile that seemed to say " I've known you
always . Why haven't you seen me sooner ? " He rec-
ognised her instantly from Mrs. Durham's description
and his heart gave a cry of joy. From that moment every
word that he uttered was spoken to her. Sometimes as
he would look straight through her eyes into her soul, she
would flush red to the roots of her brown-black hair, but
she never lowered her gaze. He closed his speech in a
round of applause that was renewed again and again.
His old classmate, Bob St. Clare, rushed forward to
greet him. .
" Old fellow, you've covered yourself with glory . By
George, that was great! Come, here's a hundred girls
want to meet you."
He was introduced to a host of beauties who showered
him with extravagant compliments which he accepted
without affectation. He knew he had outdone himself
that day, and he knew why. The One Woman he had
been searching the world for was there, and inspired him
beyond all he had ever dared before.
He was disappointed in not seeing her among the crowd
who were shaking his hand. He looked anxiously over
the heads of those near by to see if she had gone. He
saw her standing talking to two stylishly dressed young
men.
When the crowd had melted away from the rostrum,
she walked straight toward him extending her hand with
a gracious smile.
212 The Leopard's Spots
He knew he must look like a fool, but to save him
he could not help it, he was simply bubbling over with
delight as he grasped her hand, and before she could say
a word he said,
" You are Miss Sallie Worth, the Secretary of the As-
sociation. My foster mother has described you so accu-
rately I should know you among a thousand."
" Yes, I have been looking forward with pleasure to
our trip to the Springs when I knew we should meet you.
I am delighted to see you a month earlier/' She said this
with a simple earnestness that gave it a deeper meaning
than a mere commonplace.
" Do you know that you nearly knocked me off my
feet when I first saw you in the crowd ? "
"Why? How?" she asked.
" You startled me."
" I hope not unpleasantly," she said, looking up at him
with her blue eyes twinkling.
" Oh ! Heavens no ! You are such a perfect image of
the girl she described that I was so astonished I came
near shouting at the top of my voice, " There she is ! "
And that would have astonished the audience, wouldn't
it?" ,v
" It would indeed," she replied blushing just a little.
" But I'm forgetting my mission, Mr. Gaston. Papa
sent me to apologise for his absence to-day. He was
called out of the city on some mill business. He told me
to bring you home to dine with him. I'm the Secretary,
you know and exercise authority in these matters, so
I've fixed that programme. You have no choice. The
carriage is waiting."
CHAPTER V
THE MORNING OF LOVE
TO his dying day Gaston will never forget that ride
to her home with Sallie Worth by his side. It
was a perfect May day. The leaves on the trees
were just grown and flashed in their green satin under
the Southern sun, and every flower seemed in full bloom.
A great joy filled his heart with a sense of divine
restfulness. He was unusually silent. And then she
said something that made him open his eyes in new
wonder.
" Don't drive so fast Ben, and go around the longest
way, I'm enjoying this." She paused and a mischievous
look came into her eyes as she saw his expression. " I've
got the lion here by my side. I want to show all the
girls in town that I'm the only one here to-day. It isn't
often I've a great man tied down fast like this."
" Why did you spoil the first part of that pretty speech
with the last ? " he said with a frown.
" It was only your vanity that made me pause."
"Could you read me like that?"
" Of course, all men are vain, mucfi vainer than
women." Again there was a long silence.
They had reached the outskirts of the city now and
were driving slowly through the deep shadows of a great
forest.
" What beautiful trees ! " he exclaimed.
" They are fine. Do you love big trees? "
213
214 The Leopard's Spots
" Yes, they always seem to me to have a soul. It used
to make me almost cry to watch them fall beneath N else's
axe. I'd never have the heart to clear a piece of woods
if I owned it."
" I'm so glad to hear you say that. Papa laughed at
me when I said something of the sort when he wanted to
cut these woods. He left them just to please me. They
belong to our place. They hide the house till you get
right up to the gate, but I love them."
Again he looked into her eyes and was silent.
" Now, I come to think of it, you're the only girl I've
met to-day who hasn't mentioned my speech. That's
strange."
" How do you know that I'm not saving up something
very pretty to say to you later about it? "
" Tell me now."
" No, you've spoiled it by your vanity in asking." She
said this looking away carelessly.
" Then I'll interpret your silence as the highest com-
pliment you can pay me. When words fail we are deeply
moved."
" Vanity of vanity, all is vanity saith the preacher ! "
she exclaimed lifting her pretty hands.
They turned through a high arched iron gateway, across
which was written in gold letters, " Oakwood."
On a gently rising hill on the banks of the Catawba
river rose a splendid old Southern mansion, its big Greek
columns gleaming through the green trees like polished
ivory. A wide porch ran across the full width of the
house behind the big pillars, and smaller columns sup-
ported the full sweep of a great balcony above. The house
was built of brick with Portland cement finish, and the
whole painted in two shades of old ivory, with moss-green
roof and dark rich Pompeian red brick foundations. With
its green background of magnolia trees it seemed like a
The Morning of Love 215
huge block of solid ivory flashing in splendour from its
throne on the hill. The drive wound down a little dale,
around a great circle filled with shrubbery and flowers
and up to the pillared porte-cochere.
" Oh ! what a beautiful home ! " Gaston exclaimed with
feeling.
" It is beautiful, isn't it? " she said with delight. " I
love every brick in its walls, every tree and flower and
blade of grass . "
" I've always dreamed of a home like that* Those big
columns seem to link one to the past and add dignity
and meaning to life."
" Then you can understand how I love it, when I was
born here and every nook and corner has its love message
for me from the past that I have lived, as well as its
wider meaning which you see."
" The old South built beautiful homes, didn't they ?
And that was one of the finest things about the proud old
days," he said.
" Yes, and the new South of which you spoke to-day
will not forget this heritage of the old, when it comes
to itself and shakes off its long suffering and poverty ! "
Strange to hear that sort of a speech from a girl who
loves society, dances divinely and dresses to kill. He
thought of the words of his foster mother with a pang.
He hoped she was joking about those things. But he had
a strong suspicion from the consciousness of power with
which she had tried once or twice to tease him that they
were going to prove fatally true.
" Mother tells me you were in Baltimore, in that swell
girls' school on North Charles Street when I was a stu-
dent at the University ? "
" Yes, and we gave reception after reception to the
Hopkins men and you never once honoured us with your
presence."
216 The Leopard's Spots
" But I didn't know you were there, Miss Sallie."
" Of course not. If you had, I wouldn't speak to. you
now. They said you were a recluse. That you never
went into society and didn't speak to a woman for four
years."
" How did you hear that? "
" Bob St. Clare told me after I came home by way of
apology for your bad manners in so shamefully neglect-
ing a young woman from your own state."
" I'll make amends, now."
" Oh ! I'm not suffering from loneliness as I did then.
You know Bob put us up to inviting you to deliver the
address. He said you were the only orator in North
Carolina."
" Bob's the best friend I ever had. We entered college
together at fifteen, and became inseparable friends."
He helped her from the carriage and she ran lightly up
the high stoop.
" Now come here and look at the view of the river
before Papa comes and begins to talk about the tremen-
dous water power in the falls."
He followed her to the end of the long porch over-
looking the river. Behind the house the hill abruptly
plunged downward to the waters' edge in a mountainous
cliff. The river wound around this cliff past the house,
emerging into a valley where it described a graceful curve
almost doubling on itself and rolled softly away amid
green overhanging willows and towering sycamores till
lost in the distance toward the blue spurs of King's
Mountain.
" A glorious view ! " said Gaston, looking long and lov-
ingly at the silver surface of the river.
" Do you love the water, Mr. Gaston ? "
" Passionately. I was born among the hills, but the
first time I saw the ocean sweeping over five miles of
The Morning of Love 217
sand reefs and breaking in white thundering spray at my
feet, I stood there on a sand dune on our wild coast and
gazed entranced for an hour without moving. Of all the
things God ever made on this earth I love the waters of
the sea, and all moving water suggests it to me. That
river says, I must hurry to the sea ! "
" It is strange we should have such similar tastes," she
said seriously. But it did not seem strange to him. Some-
how he expected to find her agree with every whim and
fancy of his nature.
" Now we will find Mama. She is such an invalid she
rarely goes out. Papa will be home any minute."
" We are glad to welcome you Mr. Gaston," said her
mother in a kindly manner. " I'm sure you've enjoyed
the drive this beautiful day if Sallie hasn't been trying
to tease you. The boys say she's very tiresome at
times/'
" Why Mama, I'm surprised at you. The idea of such
a thing ! There's not a word of truth in it, is there, Mr.
Gaston?"
" Certainly not, Miss Sallie. I'll testify, Mrs. Worth,
that your daughter has been simply charming."
She ran to meet her father at the door. There was the
sound of a hearty kiss, a little whispering, and the Gen-
eral stepped briskly into the parlour where she had left
her guest.
" Pleased to welcome you to our home, young man.
They say down town that you made the greatest speech
ever heard in Independence. Sorry I missed it. We'll
have you to dinner anyway. I knew your brave father
in the army. And now I come to think of it, I saw you
once when you were a boy. I was struck with your re-
semblance to your father then, as now. You showed
me the way down to Tom Camp's house. Don't you re-
member ? "
2i8 The Leopard's Spots
" Certainly General, but I didn't flatter myself that you
would recall it."
" I never forget a face. I hope you have been enjoying
yourself?"
" More than I can express, sir."
" I'll join you bye and bye," said the General, taking
leave.
" Now isn't he a dear old Papa ? " she said demurely.
" He certainly knows how to make a timid young
man feel at home."
" Are you timid ? "
"Hadn't you noticed it?"
" Well, hardly." She shook her head and closed her
eyes in the most tantalising way. " To see the cool inso-
lence of conscious power with which you looked that
great crowd in the face when you arose on that platform,
I shouldn't say I was struck with your timidity/'
" I was really trembling from head to foot."
" I wonder how you would look if really cool ! "
" Honestly, Miss Sallie, I never speak to any crowd
without the intensest nervous excitement. I may put on
a brave front, but it's all on the surface."
" I can't believe it," she said shaking her head.
She looked at his serious face a moment and was
silent.
" It's queer how we run out of something to say, isn't
it ? " she asked at length.
" I hadn't thought of it."
" Come up to the observatory and 111 show you Lord
Cornwallis' look-out when he had his headquarters here
during the Revolution."
She lifted her soft white skirts and led the way up the
winding mahogany stairs into the observatory from
which the surrounding country could be seen for miles.
" Here Lord Cornwallis waited in vain for Colonel
The Morning of Love 219
Ferguson to join him with his regiment from King's
Mountain."
"Where my great-grandfather was drawing around
him his cordon of death with his fierce mountain men ! n
interrupted Gaston.
" Was your great-grandf ather in that battle ? "
" Yes, it was fought on his land, and his two-story log
house with the rifle holes cut in the chimney jambs still
stands."
" Then we will shake hands again/' she cried with en-
thusiasm, "for we are both children of the Revolu-
tion!"
Gaston took her beautiful hand in his and held it
lingeringly. Never in all his life had the mere touch of
a human hand thrilled him with such strange power.
How long he held it he could not tell but it was with a
sort of hurt surprise he felt her gently withdraw it at
last.
They had reached the parlour again, and he slowly
fell into an easy chair.
" Do you dance, Miss Sallie? "
" Why yes, don't you dance? "
* Never tried in my life."
" Don't you approve of dancing? "
" I never had time to think about it It always miuui
silly to me,"
" It's great fun."
" I'd take lessons if you would agree to teach me, and
I could dance with you all the time, and keep all the
other fellows away."
" Well, I must say that's doing fairly well for a timid
young man's first day's acquaintance. What will you
say when you once become fully self-possessed? " She
lifted her high arched eyebrows and looked at him with
those blue eyes full of tantalising fun until he had to look
22O The Leopard's Spots
down at the floor to keep from saying more than he dared.
When he looked up again he changed the subject.
" Miss Sallie, I feel like I've known you ever since I
was born." She blushed and made no reply.
Dinner was announced, and Gaston was amazed to see
Allan McLeod enter chattering familiarly with the Gen-
eral. He seemed on the most intimate terms with the
family and his eye lingered fondly on Sallie's face in a
way that somehow Gaston resented as an impertinence.
" I didn't even know you were acquainted with the Hon.
Allan McLeod, Miss Sallie/' said Gaston as they entered
the parlour alone.
" Yes, he was a sort of ward of Papa's when he was
a boy. Papa hates his politics, but he has always been
in and out almost like one of the family since I can
remember. I think he's a fascinating man, don't you ? "
" I do, but I don't like him."
" Well, he's a great friend of mine, you mustn't quar-
rel."
Gaston went to the hotel with his brain in a whirl
wondering just what she meant. It was nearly twelve
o'clock before he left the General's house. How he had
passed these eleven hours he could not imagine. They
seemed like eleven minutes in one way. In another he
seemed to have lived a lifetime that day.
" By George, she's an angel ! " he kept saying over and
over to himself as he climbed to his room forgetting the
elevator.
CHAPTER VI
BESIDE BEAUTIFUL WATERS
WHEN Gaston tried to sleep, he found it im-
possible. His brain was on fire, every nerve
quivering with some new mysterious power
and his imagination soaring on tireless wings. He rolled
and tossed an hour, then got up, and sat by his open
window looking out over the city sleeping in the still
white moonlight. He looked into the mirror and
grinned.
"What is the matter with me!" he exclaimed. "I
believe I'm going crazy."
He sat down and tried to work the thing out by the
formulas of cold reason. " It's perfectly absurd to say
I'm in love. My wild romancing about a passion that
will grasp all life in its torrent sweep is only a boy's day
dream. The world is too prosy for that now."
Yet in spite of this argument the room seemed as
bright as day, and the moon was only a pale sister light
to the radiance from the face of the girl he had seen
that day. Her face seemed to him smiling close into
his now. The light of her eyes was tender and soothing
like the far away memory of his mother's voice.
" It's a passing fancy," he said at last, after he had sat
an hour dreaming and dreaming of scenes he dared not
frame in words even alone. He stood by the window
again.
"What a beautiful old world this is after all!" he
thought as he gazed out on the tops of the oaks whose
221
222 The Leopard's Spots
young leaves were softly sighing at the touch of the
night winds. Turning his eye downward to the street
he saw the men loading the morning papers into the
wagons for the early mail.
" I wonder what sort of report of my speech they put
in ? " he exclaimed. Unable to sleep he hastily dressed,
went down and bought a paper.
On the front page was a flattering portrait, two columns
in width, with a report of his speech filling the entire
page, and an editorial review of a column and a half. He
was hailed as the coming man of the state in this editorial,
which contained the most extravagant praise. He
knew it was the best thing he had ever done, and he felt
for the minute proud of himself and his achievement.
This contemplation of his own greatness quieted his
nerves and he fell asleep. He was awakened by the first
rolling of carts on the pavements at dawn. He knew he
had not slept more than two hours but he was as wide
awake as though he had slept soundly all night.
" I must be threatened with that spell of fever Auntie
has been worrying about since I was a boy ! " he laughed
as he slowly dressed.
" It's now six o'clock, and my train don't leave till
nine," he mused. " But am I going on that train, that's
the question ? "
The fact was, now he came to think of it, there was
no need of hurrying home. He would stay a while
and look this mystery in the face until he was dis-
illusioned. Besides he wanted to find out what McLeod's
visit meant. He had a vague feeling of uneasiness when
he recalled the way McLeod had assumed about the Gen-
eral's house. He had told Sallie he must hurry home
on the morning's train for no earthly reason than that he
had intended to do so when he came.
So after breakfast he wrote her a little note.
Beside Beautiful Waters 223
" MY DEAR Miss WORTH,
. My train left me. Will you have compassion on a
Stranger in a strange city and let me call to see you
again to-day? CHARLES GASTON."
He waited impatiently until he heard his train leave,
and then told the boy to make tracks for the General's
house.
A peal of laughter rang through the hall when Sallie's
dancing eyes read that note.
"Oh! the storyteller!" sh3 cried.
And this was the answer she sent back.
" Certainly. Come out at once. I'll take you buggy
driving all by myself over a lovely road up the river. I
do this in acknowedgment of the gracious flattery you
pay me in the story you told about the train. Of course
I know you waited till the train left before you sent the
note . SALLIE WORTH/'
" Now I wonder if that young rascal of a boy told her
I wrote that note an hour ago ? I'll v/ring his neck if he
did. Come here boy ! "
The negro came up grinning in hopes of another
quarter.
" Did you tell that young lady anything about when I
wrote that note ? "
" Na-sah ! Nebber tole her nuffin. She des laugh and
laugh fit ter kill herse'f des quick es she reads de note."
Gaston smiled and threw him another tip.
" Yassah, she's a knowin' lady, sho's you bawn, I been
dar lots er times fo' dis ! "
Gaston was tempted to ask him for whom he carried
those former messages. He walked with bounding steps,
his being tingling to his finger tips with the joy of living.
TVie avenue leading the full length of the city toward
224 The Leopard's Spots
the General's house was two miles long before it reached
the woods at the gate. It seemed only a step this morning.
, As he passed through the cool shade of the woods a
squirrel was playing hide and seek with his mate on the
old crooked fence beside the road. His little nimble mis-
tress flew up a great tree to its topmost bough and chat-
tered and laughed at her lover as he scrambled swiftly
after her. She waited until he was just reaching out his
arm to grasp her, and then with another scream of laugh-
ter leaped straight out into the air to another tree top,
and then another and another until lost in the heart of
the forest.
" I wonder if that's going to be my fate ! " he mused
as he turned into the gateway.
Again the majestic beauty of that gleaming mass of
ivory on the hill with its green background swept his
soul with its power. It seemed a different shade of
colour now that he saw it with the sun at another angle.
Its surface seemed to have the soft sheen of creamy
velvet.
He paused and sighed, " Why should I be so poor ! If
I only had a house like that I'd turn that big banquet
hall on the left wing into a library, and I'd ask no higher
heaven . "
And he fell to wondering if it would really be worth
the having without the face and voice of the girl who
was there within waiting for him. No, he was sure of
it this morning for the first time in his life. The cer-
tainty of this conviction brought to his heart a feeling of
loneliness and despair. When he thought of his abject
poverty and the long years of struggle before him, and
of that beautiful accomplished young woman rich, petted,
the belle of the city, the gulf that separated their lives
seemed impassable.
"I'm playing with fire!" he said to himself as he
Beside Beautiful Waters 225
looked up at the graceful pillars with their carved and
fluted capitals. " Well, let it be so. Let me live life to
its deepest depths and its highest reach. It is better to
love and lose than never to love at all." And he walked
into the cool hall with the ease and assurance of its
master.
Sallie greeted him with the kindliest grace.
" I'm so glad you stayed to-day, Mr. Gaston. I should
have been really chagrined to think I made so slight an
impression on you that you could walk deliberately away
on a pre-arranged schedule. I am not< used to being
treated so lightly."
He tried to make some answer to this half serious
banter, but was so absorbed in just looking at her he said
nothing.
She was dressed in a morning gown of a soft red ma-
terial, trimmed with old cream lace. The material of
a woman's dress had never interested him before. He
knew calico from silk, but beyond that he never ventured
an opinion. To colour alone he was responsive. This
combination of red and creamy white, with the bodice
.cut low showing the lines of her beautiful white shoul-
ders and the great mass of dark hair rising in graceful
curves from her full round neck heightened her beauty
to an extraordinary degree. As she walked, the cling-
ing folds of her dress, outlining her queenly figure, seemed
part of her very being and to be imbued with her soul.
He was dazzled with the new revelation of her power
.over him.
"Have you no apology, sir, for pretending that you
were going home this morning? " she said seating herself
by his side.
" You didn't ask me to stay with fervour."
" It ought not to have been necessary."
" Didn't you really know I was not going? "
226 The Leopard's Spots
" Yes."
" I'm glad."
" Yes, you see I'm twenty-one years old, and I've seen
such things happen before ! " she purred this slowly and
burst into laughter.
" Now, Miss Sallie, that's cruel to throw me down
in a heap of dead dogs I don't even know."
" Don't you like dogs ? "
" Four legged ones, yes. But I like my friends alive."
" Oh ! It didn't kill any of them. They are all strong
and hearty. But if you're so domestic in your tastes why
haven't you settled in life?"
" Been waiting to find the woman of my dreams."
" And you haven't found her ? "
" Not up to yesterday."
" Oh I I forgot," she said archly, " you're so timid."
" Honestly, I was."
" Up to yesterday ! " she murmured. " Well, tell me
what your dreams demanded? What kind of a creature
must she be? "
" I have forgotten."
" What ! Forgotten the dreams of your ideal woman ? "
" Yes."
"Since when?"
" Yesterday."
"Thanks. We are getting on beautifully, aren't we?
You will get over your timidity in time, I'm sure."
He smiled, looked down at the pattern of the carpet
and did not speak for some minutes. His soul was
thrilled and satisfied in her presence. As he lifted his
eyes from the floor they rested on the piano.
" Will you play for me, Miss Sallie ? Auntie says you
play delightfully."
" Auntie ? Who is Auntie ? "
" Mrs. Durham, my foster mother, of course. Excuse
Beside Beautiful Waters 127
my unconscious assumption of your familiarity with all
my antecedents. I can't get over the impression that I
have known you all my life/'
"And that reminds me that I started to say some-
thing to you yesterday that was perfectly ridiculous, but
caught myself in time."
41 1 wish you had said it."
" Mrs. Durham is a great flatterer of those she loves.
She thinks I can play. But I'm the veriest amateur."
" Let me be the judge."
She was looking over her music, and he had opened
the piano.
" I'll play for you with pleasure. Sit there in that big
arm chair. I'm sorry I tired you so early in the day
with my chatter."
And before he could protest her fingers were touching
the piano with the ease of the t>orn musician.
He sat enraptured as he watched the sinuous grace
with which her fingers touched the ivory keys and heard
their answering cry which seemed the breath of her own
soul in echo.
She had an easy apparently careless touch. To old
familiar music she gave a charm that was new, adding
something indefinable to the musician's thought that gave
luminous power to its interpretation. He had no knowl-
edge of the technique of music, but now he knew that she
was improvising. The piano was the voice of her own
beautiful soul, and it was pulsing with a tenderness that
melted him to tears.
Suddenly the music ceased, and she turned her face
full on his before he could brush away a big tear that
rolled down. She flushed, closed the piano, and quietly
resumed her place by his side.
" And, now, you haven't told me how well I played.
You're the first young man so careless."
228 The Leopard's Spots
" I have told you."
"How?"
" The way you told me yesterday that you understood
me — with a tear."
" I appreciate it more than words."
" So did I," he slowly said. Again there was a long
silence.
" But we do love to hear folks say in words what they
think sometimes. I confess I was immensely elated over
the fine things the paper said about me this morning."
" It's a wonder too. Our editor is a cranky sort of
fellow. I was afraid he'd say a lot of mean things about
you. But Papa says you swallowed him whole."
" Did you wish him to say kind things about me ? "
" Of course," she said, and then the look of mischief
came back in her eye. " Were you not our guest ? I
should have felt like whipping him if he hadn't said nice
things."
" Then I'll tell you what I think about your playing.
You gave those strings a soul for the first time for me,
beautiful, living, throbbing, that spoke a message of its
own. The piece you improvised, I shall never forget.
Such music seems to me the grasping of the infinite by
hands that touch the impalpable and bringing it for a
moment within the sphere of matter that a kindred soul
may hear and see and feel."
She started to make some reply but her lips quivered
and she looked away across the valley at the river and
made no answer.
At dinner the General was in his most genial mood,
laughing and joking, and drawing out Gaston on politics
and cotton-mill developments, and trying with all his
might to tease his daughter.
As he took his departure for the mills, he said, " Young
man, I'd ask you to go with me and look at the machinery,
Beside Beautiful Waters 229
but I see it's no use. I heard her twisting you around
her fingers with that piano a while ago . "
" Papa, don't be so silly ! ' cried Sallie, slipping her
arm around him, putting one hand over his mouth, and
kissing him.
" Go on to your work. I'll entertain Mr. Gaston."
" Indeed you will ! " he shouted, throwing her another
kiss as he left.
" He's the dearest father any girl ever had in this
world. I know you loved yours, didn't you, Mr. Gas-
ton?"
" Mine was killed in battle, Miss Sallie. I never knew
him. But I had the most beautiful mother that ever
lived. I lost her when a mere boy. And the world has
never been the same since. I envy you."
" I forgot. Forgive me," she softly said, looking up
into his face with tenderness.
" If I had only had a sister ! How my heart used to
ache when I'd see other boys playing with a sister ! My
poor little starved soul was so hungry, I would go off
in the woods sometimes and cry for hours."
" I wish I had known you when you were a little boy,
— I can't conceive of a dignified orator swaying thousands
running around as a barefooted boy. But you must have
gone barefooted for I think Papa said so, didn't he?"
" Indeed I did, and sometimes I am afraid for the very
good reason I didn't have any shoes."
" Well, you wouldn't have worn them if you had. I
always wanted to be a boy just to go barefooted. I think
girls lose so much of a child's life by having to wear
shoes."
" But you never knew what it meant to want shoes and
not be able to have them," he said, looking at the shining
tips of her slippers peeping from the edge of her
dress.
230 The Leopard's Spots
" No, but I never thought these things made a great
difference in our lives after all. I believe it is what we
are, not what we have, that gives life meaning."
He looked at her intently.
" I must get ready now for our drive. The horse will
be here in ten minutes. Enjoy the view on the porch
until I am ready/' and she bounded up the stairs to her
room.
In a few minutes she was by his side again dressed in
spotless white as he had seen her first. She lifted the
lines over the sleek horse, and he dashed swiftly down
the drive.
Oh ! the peace and bliss of that drive along the lonely
river road by its cool green banks !
How he poured out to her his inmost thoughts — things
he had not dared to whisper alone with himself and God !
And then he wondered why he had thus laid bare his secret
dreams to this girl he had known but twenty-four hours.
Nonsense, down in his soul he knew he had known her
forever * Before the world was made, ages and ages ago
in eternity he had known her. He turned to her now
drawn by a resistless force as a plant turns toward the
sunlight for its life. How he could talk that day! -All
he had ever known of art and beauty, all he knew of the
deep truths of life, were on his lips leaping forth in
simple but impassioned words. For hours he lay at her
feet where she sat on a rock, high up on the cliffs over-
looking the river and poured out his heart like a child.
And she listened with a dreamy look as though to the
music of a master.
At last she sprang to her feet and looked at her watch.
" Oh ! Mama will be furious. It will be after sundown
before we can get home. We must hurry."
" I'll make it all right with your Mama," he replied
as though he were skilled in meeting such emergencies.
Beside Beautiful Waters 231
" Don't you speak to her. It'll be all I can do to man-
age her."
The twilight was gathering when they reached the
house, and an angry anxious mother was waiting high up
on the stoop.
" Watch me smooth every wrinkle out of her brow
now ! " she whispered as she flew up the steps.
1 Before her mother could say a word, a white hand was
on her mouth and pretty lips were whispering something
in her ears she had never heard before. There was the
sound of a kiss and he heard Sallie say, " Not a word ! "
And the mother greeted him with a smile and a curi-
ously searching look. She chattted pleasantly until her
.daughter returned from her room, and then left her.
Again it was nearly twelve o'clock before he reached the
hotel.
; The next morning Bob St. Clare broke in on him be-
fore he was out of bed.
" Look here, you sly dog, what are you doing slipping
and sliding around here yet ? "
" Bob, you're the man I want to see. Tell me all you
know about the Worths."
" The Worths ? Which one ? "
" There's only one so far as I can see."
"Well, you may find out there's two if you should
jhappen to collide with the General."
" Does he cut up at times ? "
" He's all right till he turns on you, and then you want
to find shelter."
" Did you ever run up against him ? "
" No, I never got that far. He's hail-fellow-well-met
(with every youngster in town. He will laugh and joke
.about his daughter until he thinks she is in earnest about
a fellow, and then he swoops down on him like a hawk.
•I'll bet a hundred dollars he's playing you now for all
232 The Leopard's Spots
you're worth against the latest favourite. But Miss
Sallie — she's an angel ! "
" Look here, Bob, you're not in love with her ? "
" Well, I'm convalescing at present my boy. Every
boy in the town has been there, but I don't believe she
cares a snap for a man of us unless it's that big red-
headed McLeod. I can't make his position out exactly."
" Did she jolt you hard when you hit the ground? "
" Easiest thing you ever saw. She has a supreme
genius for painless cruelty. When the time comes she
can pull your eye-tooth out in such a delicate friendly
way you will have to swear she hasn't hurt you."
"You still go?"
" Lord yes, we all do, — sort of a congress of the lost
meet down there. They all hang on. She keeps the
friendship of every poor devil she kills."
"You know you make the cold chills run down my
back when you talk like that."
" Are you in love with her, Gaston ? "
" To tell you the truth, I don't know."
" Then what in the thunder have you been doing out
there two days and nights, if you haven't made love to
her?"
" Just basking in the sun."
" Well, you are a fool. Eleven hours the first day,
and fifteen hours yesterday. Confound you, don't you
know a dozen fellows in town are cursing you for all
they can think of?"
"What about?"
" Why for trying to hog the whole time, day and night.
;She won't let a mother's son of them come near till you're
gone."
"Well, that's immense!" exclaimed Gaston slapping
}iis friend on the back.
Beside Beautiful Waters 233
" Don't be too sure. She's just sizing you up. She's
done the same thing a dozen times before."
" I don't believe it."
And he didn't go home until the end of the week when
the last cent of his money was gone.
CHAPTER VII
DREAMS AND FEARS
HE was on the train at last homeward bound. Gaz-
ing out of the window of the car he was trying
to find where he stood. He must be in love.
He faced the remarkable fact that he had spent a whole
week in Independence at an expensive hotel, and squan-
dered every cent of the small fee he had received for his
address in what would be otherwise a perfectly senseless
manner.
Yet he felt rich. He was sure he had never spent
money so wisely and economically in his life. Beyond
the shadow of a doubt he was in love, — desperately and
hopelessly committed to this one girl for life. He said
it in his heart with a shout of triumph. Life was not a
sterile desert of brute work. It was true. Love the
magician of the ages, lived in this world of lost faiths
and dead religions.
Now that he was leaving he felt a tingling impulse to
leap off the train, cut across the fields and run back to
her — and he laughed aloud, just as the train came to a
sudden stop, and everybody looked at him and smiled.
A drummer looked up from a novel he was reading and
said,
" It is a fine day, partner, isn't it ? "
" Never saw a finer," answered Gaston with another
laugh.
He dwelt long and greedily on the consciousness of
434
Dreams and Fears 235
this new vitalising secret he felt for the first time throb-
bing in his soul. He bathed his heart in its warmth until
he could feel the red blood rush to the ends of his fingers
.with its new fever. He breathed its perfume until every
nerve quivered. " I have never lived before . No mat-
ter now if I die, I have lived ! " he said slowly and
reverently.
He wondered long and wistfully what was in her heart
while this wild tumult was going on in him. He won-
dered if it were possible she loved him. It seemed too
good to be true. He was afraid to believe it. And yet
his whole soul with every power of his being cried out
that she did. He could not have been mistaken in the
message he read in the liquid depths of her eyes, and the
delicate tenderness of her voice. Words may say noth-
ing, but these signs are the language of the universal.
Still, others had been equally sure, and been deceived.
Might not he too make the fatal mistake? It was pos-
sible. And there was the pain.
She had not uttered a single word in all the hours they
spent together that might not be interpreted in a conven-
tional meaningless way.
Yet he had given to every one of these words a soul
meaning that spoke directly to his inner being and not
his ear.
He had never spoken a word of shallow love-making
to a woman in his life. To him love was too holy a
mystery. It would have been the blasphemy of the Holy
Ghost — a sin that would not be forgiven in this world
or the world to come. His college mates had called him
a crank on this subject. But he shut his lips in a way
that always closed the argument, and they let him alone
with his Idol.
" I am afraid yet to put it to the test ! " he said at last.
" I must have time to reveal my best self to her. I must
236 The Leopard's Spots
see her again, live close to her day by day, and bring to
bear on her every power of body and soul I possess."
Mrs. Durham met him with dancing eyes. " Oh, I've
heard from you, sir ! "
" Kiss me Auntie, and be kind . I'm in the last stages
of delirium ! "
He took her hands both in his and looked at her long.
" How good you've been to me, Auntie, in all the past.
You never looked so beautiful as to-day. I want to thank
you for every word you've said to Miss Sallie for me.
It may have helped just a little anyway. "
" Well you are in the last stages ! " she exclaimed
gleefully.
" And you are glad of it ? "
" Of course, I am, it will make a man of you."
" But suppose I lose ? "
She was silent a moment and then slipped her arm
gently about him, drew down his ear and whispered,
" You shall not lose — I've set my heart on it."
He pressed her hands and said, " How like my sweet
mother's voice was that ! "
And then they fell to discussing plans for giving Miss
Sallie and her friend a jolly time at the Springs.
" But Auntie, these plans don't seem to me exactly
what I'd like. You see I want to be the whole thing.
It may be hopelessly selfish, but I can't help it."
" Well that isn't best."
" Say Auntie, what do I look like anyway ? How
would you describe my make up? Let's get at the weak
spots and splint them up a little. You know, I never
seriously cared a rap before about my looks."
" Well " — she answered, slowly regarding him, " I'll
be perfectly frank with you.
" You are tall — at least two inches taller than the aver-
age man, and your muscular body gives one the impres-
Dreams and Fears 237
sion of power. You have black hair, dark-brown eyes
that look out from your shaggy straight eye-brows with
a piercing light."
" You think the brows too shaggy ? "
" No, I like them. They suggest reserve power and
brain capacity."
" Good, I never thought of that."
" You have a face that is massive, almost leonine, and
a square-cut determined mouth, that always clean shaven,
sometimes looks too grim."
" I'll remember that and look pleasant."
" You have a big hand and sometimes shake hands too
strongly. You have a handsome aristocratic foot when
}4ou wear decent shoes. You often walk hump-
shouldered, and sit so too."
" I'll brace up."
" You have deep vertical wrinkles between your eyes
just where your straight eyebrows meet."
" Heavens, I didn't know I had wrinkles ! "
" Yes, but they mean habits of thought like your
stooping shoulders, I don't object to such wrinkles in a
man's face. But the best feature of all your stock is
your eye. Your big brown eyes are about the only per-
fect thing about you. There's infinite tenderness in them.
Now and then they gleam with a hidden fire that tells
of enthusiasm, thought, will, character, and dauntless
courage."
She looked and they were misty with tears.
He pressed her hand. " Auntie, I didn't know how
much you've loved me all these years. How love opens
one's eyes ! "
" You have a high temper, plenty of pride, and are
given to looking on the dark side of things too quickly.
You lack poise of character and sureness of touch yet,
but with it all, yours is a masterful nature."
238 The Leopard's Spots
" One you think that a perfect woman could love? "
" There are no perfect women ; but I'll match you
against any woman I know. So there, now, take cour-
age/'
" I will," he gravely answered.
He hurried to his office and read his mail. There
were two letters retaining his services for jury work in
important cases. His heart leaped at the sign of coming
success. What a new meaning love gave to every event
in life.
He turned to his books, and began immediately a
searching study of every question involved in these
cases. He would carry the court by storm. He would
lead the jury spellbound by his eloquence to a certain
verdict. How clear his brain! He felt he was alive to
his finger-tips, and argus-eyed.
He worked hour after hour without the slightest fa-
tigue or knowledge of the flight of time. He looked up
at last with surprise to find it was night, and was startled
by the voice of the Preacher calling him from below.
" What's the matter with you ? Mrs. Durham sent me
to find you. She was afraid you had gone up on the roof
and walked off."
" I'll be ready in a minute, Doctor," he called from
the window.
" I haven't known you to take to law so violently in
four years. What's up ? Got a capital case ? "
" Yes, I believe I have. It's a matter of life and death
to one poor soul anyhow."
" Now, honour bright haven't you been working all
this afternoon on a love-letter that you've just finished
and addressed to Independence ? "
"No sir. To tell you the fact, I didn't dare to ask
her to write to me. I knew I couldn't control a pen."
" My boy, I wish you success with all my heart. It
Dreams and Fears 239
makes me young again to look into your face. I've had
my supper, when you've finished your confab with your
Auntie, come out here in the square to the seat under
the old oak, I want to talk to you on some important
business."
" What have you been doing," asked Mrs. Durham.
" Building a home for her ! " he cried in a whisper.
He went behind the chair where his foster mother sat
pouring his tea, bent low and kissed her high white fore-
head. " My own Mother ! I'll never call you Auntie
again!"
Tears sprang to her eyes, and she kissed his hand,
tenderly holding it to her lips.
" Ah ! Love is a wonder worker, isn't he Charlie? "
" Yes, and I can't realise the joy that lifts and inspires
me when I think that I am one of the elect. It's too good
to be true. I have been initiated into the great secret. I
have tasted the water of Life. I shall not see Death."
She looked at him with pride. " I knew you would
make a matchless lover. I envy Sallie her young eyes
and ears ! "
" You need not envy her. You will never grow old."
" So much the worse if we miss the dreams that fill
the souls of the young," she said with an accent of sor-
rowful pride.
CHAPTER VIII
THE UNSOLVED RIDDLE
G ASTON found the Preacher quietly smoking,
seated on the rustic under a giant oak that stood
in the corner of the square.
Under this tree the speakers' stand had always been
built for joint debates in political campaigns.
Here, when a boy he had heard the great debate be-
tween Zebulon B. Vance and Judge Thomas Settle in
the fierce campaign which followed the overthrow of Le-
gree when the Republican party, under the leadership
of Judge Settle made its desperate effort for life. Settle,
who was a man of masterful personality, eloquent, and
in dead earnest in his appeal for a new South, had made
a speech of great power to a crowd that were hostile to
every idea for which he stood; and yet he dazzled or
stunned them into sullen silence.
And then he recalled with flashes of memory vivid as
lightning, the miracle that had followed. He could see
Vance now as he slowly lifted his big lion-like head, and
calmly looked over the sea of faces with eagle eyes
that could flash with resistless humour or blaze with the
fury of elemental passion. He reviewed the terrible
past in which he had played the tragic role o'f their war
Governor, and tore into, tatters with the facts of his-
tory the logic of his opponent. And then he opened
his batteries of wit and ridicule, — wit that cut to the
heart's red blood, and yet convulsed the hearer with its
unexpected turn, Ridicule that withered and scorched
240
The Unsolved Riddle 241
what it touched into ashes* Five thousand people now
in breathless suspense as he swung them into heaven on
the wings of deathless words, now screaming with
laughter, and now hushed in tears!
The scene that followed this triumph! Two stalwart
mountain men snatched him from the rostrum and bore
him on their shoulders through the shouting, weeping
crowd. Women pressed close and kissed his hands, and
old men reached forward their hands to touch his gar-
ments. Ah! if he could inherit the power of this king
among men ! To-night as Gaston walked under that tree
with his heart beating with the ecstasy of a new-found
source of life, he felt that he could do, and that he would
do, what the master had done before him!
" Charlie, I've heard some startling news since you
left home, and I can't sleep nights thinking about it."
" You've heard of McLeod's scheme."
"Exactly. And it means the ruin of this state and
the ruin of the South unless it can be defeated."
" How are you going to do it ? "
" It's a puzzle but it's got to be done. Half the farmers
in the strongholds of Democracy are crazy over their
fool Sub-Treasury and a hundred other fakir dreams.
McLeod has promised them everything — Sub-Treasury,
pumpkin leaves for money, — anything they want if they
will join forces with his niggers and carry the state.
You are the man to begin now a quiet but thorough or-
ganisation of the young men, and oust the fools from
control of the party.
" When the white race begin to hobnob with the Negro
and seek his favour, they must grant him absolute equal-
ity. That means ultimately social as well as political
equality. You can't ask a man to vote for you and kick
him down your front doorstep and tell him to come
around the back way."
242 The Leopard's Spots
" I think you exaggerate the social danger, but I see
the political end of it."
" I don't exaggerate in the least. I am looking into
the future. This racial instinct is the ordinance of our
life. Lose it and we have no future. One drop of Negro
blood makes a negro. It kinks the hair, flattens the nose,
thickens the lip, puts out the light of intellect, and lights
the fires of brutal passions. The beginning of Negro
equality as a vital fact is the beginning of the end of this
nation's life. There is enough negro blood here to make
mulatto the whole Republic."
" Such a danger seems too remote for serious alarm
to me," replied the younger man.
" Ah ! there's the tragedy," passionately cried the
Preacher. " You younger men are growing careless and
indifferent to this terrible problem. It's the one unsolved
and unsolvable riddle of the coming century. Can you
build, in a Democracy, a nation inside a nation of two
hostile races? We must do this or become mulatto, and
that is death. Every inch in the approach of these races
across the barriers that separate them is a movement
toward death. You cannot seek the Negro vote without
asking him to your home sooner or later. If you ask
him to your house, he will break bread with you at last.
And if you seat him at your table, he has the right to
ask your daughter's hand in marriage."
" It seems to me a far cry to that . But I see the politi-
cal crisis. What is your plan ? "
" This, — organise the young Democracy in every town-
ship in the state, and put yourself at its head, control the
primaries and down the old crowd. They've got to fol-
low you. Fight the campaign with the desperation of
despair. If you are defeated, God have mercy on us,
but you will be ready for the next battle."
"IH do it," said Gaston with emphasis.
The Unsolved Riddle 143
" Then I want you to go on a mission to Col. Duke,
the President of the National Farmer's Alliance. He's
a good Baptist. He means well, but he's crazy. He
dreams of the Presidency when he has established the
Sub-Treasury for the farmers . He's afraid of the Negro,
and is nervous about using him. He knows I am the
most influential Baptist preacher in the state. Tell him
I say you will win, and that we will give him the nomina-
tion for Governor, and put him in line for the Presi-
dency."
" When shall I go to see him? "
" Immediately. Get ready to-night."
The next week McLeod was seated in his office at
Hambright receiving reports from his political henchmen
at Raleigh.
" I tell you, McLeod, there's a hitch. Something's
dropped. Duke's as coy as a maid of sixteen. He says
no decision can be made now until he submits a lot of
rot to all the lodges of the Alliance and the " Referen-
dum " decides these points. You'd better get hold of
him and comb the kinks out of him quick."
McLeod's eyes flashed with anger, as he twisted the
points of his red moustache.
" It's that damned Baptist Preacher," he said. " I'll
get even with him yet if it's the only thorough job I do
on this earth."
CHAPTER IX
THE RHYTHM OF THE DANCE
BEFORE boarding the train he was to take for
Raleigh, he lingered with Mrs. Durham talk-
ing, talking, talking about the wonder of his
love. As he arose to leave he said,
" Now, Mother dear "
" Charlie, you just say that so beautifully to make me
your slave."
" Of course I do. What I was going to say is, I can't
write to her. I don't dare. You can. Tell her all about
me won't you? Everything that you think will interest
and please her, and that will be discreet. Your intuitions
will tell you how far to go. Tell her how hard I'm work-
ing and what an important mission I've undertaken, and
the tremendous things that hang on its outcome. And
tell her how impatiently I'm waiting for her to come to
the Springs. Be sure to tell her that."
" All right. I'll act as your attorney in your absence.
But hurry back, she must not get here first. I want you
to be on the spot."
" I'll be here if I have to give up politics and go into
business — and you know how I "hate that word
' business/ "
" I'll telegraph you if she comes."
" Don't let her come till I get back. Tell her the hotel
isn't fit to receive guests yet — it never is for that matter
— but anything to give me time to get here."
244
The Rhythm of the Dance 245
He worked with indomitable courage for two weeks,
visiting the principal towns in the state, and everywhere
arousing intense enthusiasm. There was something con-
tagious in his spirit. The young fellows were charmed
by his eager intense way of looking at things, they caught
the infection and he made hundreds of staunch friends.
" You're just in time ! " cried his mother greeting him
with radiant face on his return. " She is coming to-
morrow. I've a beautiful letter from her. I think one
of the sweetest letters a girl ever wrote."
"Let me see it!"
" No."
" Why, Mother, I thought you were all on my side ! "
" But I'm not. I'm a woman, and you can't see some
things she says."
" Then it's something awfully nice about me."
" Maybe the opposite."
" Then you'd resent it for me."
" I love her too, sir."
" Let me see the tip end of it where she signs her
name!"
" You can see that much, there "
" Doesn't she write a lovely hand ! " He looked long
and lovingly. " That pretty name ! — Sallie ! So old-
fashioned, and so homelike. It's music, isn't it?"
" I didn't know you could be so silly, Charlie."
" It is funny, isn't it ? You know I think after all, we
are made out of the same stuff, saint and sinner, philoso-
pher and fool. The differences are only skin deep."
" You don't think she is made out of ordinary
clay?"
" Oh ! Lord, no, I meant the men. Every woman is
something divine to me. I think of God as a woman, not
a man — a great loving Mother of all Life. If I ever saw
the face of God it was in my mother's face."
246 The Leopard's Spots
" Hush ! you will make me do anything you wish."
" No, no, I don't want to see that letter unless you
think it best/'
" Well, you will not see any more of it, sir."
When Gaston met them at the depot with a carriage to
take Sallie, her mother, and Helen Lowell, her Boston
schoolmate, to the Springs, the first passenger to alight
was Bob St. Clare.
" What in the thunder are you doing here ! This town
is quarantined against you ! " said Gaston.
" Hush ! " said Bob in a stage whisper. " She's here.
There's her valise."
" That's why you can't land. Two's company, three's
a crowd. I like you, Bob. But I won't stand for
this."
The crowd were pouring off the train and had cut off
Sallie's party in the centre of the car.
" Gaston, I just came up for your sake. I'm looking
after Miss Lowell. I'm lost, ruined. Scared to say a
word. I thought maybe, you'd help me out. We'll pool
chances. I'll talk for you and you talk for me."
" It's a bargain, St. Clare." .
" I want a separate carriage, — get me one quick."
In a few moments, the brief introduction over, Gaston
was seated in the carriage facing Sallie and her mother
whirling along the road, over the long hills toward the
Campbell Sulphur Springs in the woods, two miles from
the town.
How beautiful and fresh she looked to him even in a
dusty travelling dress ! He was drinking the nectar from
the depths of her eyes.
" Now don't you think Helen the prettiest girl you
ever saw, Mr. Gaston? " she asked.
" I hadn't noticed it."
" Where were your eyes ? "
The Rhythm of the Dance 247
" Elsewhere. I'm so glad you are going to spend a
month at the Springs, Miss Sallie. I used to go to school
there when a little boy. They had a girl's school there
in the winter and boys under twelve were admitted. I
know every nook and corner of the big forest back of
the hotel. I'll see that you don't get lost."
" That will be fine. But you must bring every good-
looking boy in the county and make him bow down and
worship Helen. She is not used to it, but she is tickled
to death over these Southern boys, and I'm going to give
her the best time she ever had in her life."
" I'll do everything you command — except bow down
myself. Bob's agreed to do that."
She smiled in spite of her effort to look serious, and
her mother pinched her arm. She laughed.
" So you and Bob St. Clare were out there plotting
before we could get out of the train? "
" Nothing unlawful, I assure you."
The first day she allowed Gaston to monopolise, and
then began his torture. She declared there were others
with whom she must be friendly. She determined to give
a ball to Helen the next week, and began preparations.
It was a new business for Gaston, but he did his best
to please her, in a pathetic half-hearted sort of way. He
ran all sorts of errands, and executed her orders with
tact.
" Oh ! Sallie let the ball go. I don't care for i't. I
can do nothing to ever repay you for the good time I've
been having," said Helen as they sat in her room one
night.
" We are going to have it, I tell you. I don't care how
much Mr. Gaston sulks. I'm not taking orders from
him."
" No, but you'd like to — you know it."
"What an idea!"
248 The Leopard's Spots
" You know you like him better than all the others
put together."
" Nonsense. I'm as free as a bird."
" Then what are you blushing for ? "
" I'm not." But her face was scarlet.
" You Southern girls are so queer. The moment you
like a man you're as sly as a cat, and deny that you even
know him. When I find the man I love I don't care
who knows it, if he loves me."
" What do you think of Bob St. Clare? "
" I like- him."
" Hasn't he made love to you yet ? "
"No, and the only one of the crowd who hasn't. I
don't mind confessing that I never had love made to me
before this visit. In Boston it's a serious thing for a
young man to call once. The second call, means a family
council, and at the third he must make a declaration of
his intentions or face consequences. Down here, the
boys don't seem to have anything to do except to make
their girl friends happy, and feel they are the queens of
the earth, and that their only mission is to minister to
them. And some of your girls are engaged to six boys
at the same time."
"Don't you like it?"
" It's glorious. I feel that if I hadn't come down here
to see you I'd have missed the meaning of life."
" Don't our boys make love beautifully ? "
" I never dreamed of anything like it. They make it
so seriously, so dead in earnest, you can't help believing
them."
" And Bob hasn't said a word? "
" Hasn't breathed a hint."
" Then you have him sure . They are hit hard when
they are silent like that. Bob made love to me the second
day he ever saw me."
The Rhythm of the Dance 249
" Don't tease me, dear," said Helen as she put her
pretty rosy cheek against the dark beauty of the South.
" Do you really think he likes me seriously ? "
" He's crazy about you, goose ! "
There was the sound of a kiss.
" I can't tell stories about it like you, Sallie, I'm afraid
I'm in love with him," she whispered.
" Well, I'll make him court you to-morrow or have him
thrashed, if you say so."
" Don't you dare ! "
" Then do just as I tell you about this ball and get
yourself up regardless."
On the night of the ball, Gaston, sitting out on the
porch, felt nervous and fidgety, like a fish out of water.
He knew he had no business there, and yet he couldn't
go away. They had a quarrel about the ball. Sallie
had insisted that Gaston honour her by coming in even-
ing dress whether he danced or not.
" But, Miss Sallie, I'll feel like a fool. Everybody in
the country knows that I never entered a ball-room."
" Do you care so much what everybody thinks about
you?" "
" 'No, but I care what I think of myself."
" Well, if you don't come in full dress suit, I won't
speak to you."
He turned pale in spite of his effort at self control.
Then a queer steel-like look came into his eyes.
" I shall be more than sorry to fail to please you, but
I have no dress suit. I have never had time for social
frivolities. I can't afford to buy one for this occasion.
I couldn't be nigger enough to hire one, so that's the end
of it. I'll have to come dressed in my own fashion or
stay at home."
" Then you can stay at home," she snapped.
" I'll not do it," he coolly replied.
250 The Leopard's Spots
" Well, I like your insolence."
" I'm glad you do. I'll come as I come to all such
functions, an outsider. I'll sit out here on the porch in
the shadows and see it from afar. If I could only dance,
I assure you I'd try to fill every number of your card.
Not being able to do so, I simply decline to make a fool
of myself."
" For that compliment, I'll compromise with you.
Wear that big pompous Prince Albert suit you spoke in
at Independence, and I'll come out on the porch and
chat with you a while."
He sat there now in the shadows waiting for this ball
to begin. It was a clear night the first week in June.
The new moon was hanging just over the tree tops. His
heart was full to bursting with the thought that the girl
he loved would, in a few minutes, be whirling over that
polished floor to the strains of a waltz, with another
man's arm around her. He never knew how deeply he
hated dancing before — that rhythmic touch of the human
body, set to the melody of motion, and voiced in the
passionate cry of music. He felt its challenge to his love
to mortal combat, — his love that claimed this one woman
as his own, body and soul !
The music from the Italian band was in full swing,
its plaintive notes instinct with the passion of sunny
Italy, a music all Southern people love.
He felt that he should choke. A sudden thought
came to him. Tearing a sheet of paper from a note
book he scrawled this line upon it.
" Dear Miss Sallie : — Please let me see you a moment
in the parlour before you enter the ball-room. Gaston."
At least he would see her in her ball costume first.
Yes, and if she should hate him for it, he would beg
her not to dance that night. He saw McLeod, bowing
and scraping in the ball-room arrayed in faultless full
Sallie
A DAZZLING VISION OF BEAUTY.
The Rhythm of the Dance 251
dress, and glancing toward the door. He knew he was
waiting for her to ask her to dance. How he would
like to wring his handsome neck!
The boy returned immediately and said the lady was
waiting in the parlour. He entered with a sense of fear
and confusion.
She came to him with her bare arm extended, a daz-
zling vision of beauty. She was dressed in a creamy
white crepe ball gown, cut modestly decollete over her
full bust and gleaming shoulders, sleeveless, and held
with tiny straps across the curve of the upper arm.
He was stunned. She smiled in triumph, conscious of
her resistless power.
" Forgive me for my selfishness in keeping you here
just a moment from the rest. I wished to see you first."
" What ? to inspect like Mama, to see if I look all
right?"
" No, with a mad desire to keep you as long as possible
from the others."
Then she looked up at him and said slowly and softly,
" Would it please you very much if I were not to dance
to-night?"
" I wouldn't dare ask so selfish a thing of you. It is
with you a simple habit of polite society, and you enjoy it
as a child does play. I understand that, and yet if you
do not dance to-night, I feel as though I would crawl
round this world on my hands and knees for you if you
would ask it. There are men waiting for you in that
ball room whom I hate."
She looked at him timidly as though she were afraid
he was about to say too much and replied,
" Then I will not dance to-night. I'll just preside over
the ball and let Helen be the queen."
" Words have no power to convey my gratitude. 1
count all my little triumphs in life nothing to this. You
252 The Leopard's Spots
promised to join me on the porch. Don't change that
part of the programme. I will talk to your mother until
you come."
Gaston went down stairs treading on air. He sought
her mother and devoted himself to her with supreme tact.
He discovered her tastes and prejudices and paid her that
knightly deference some young men express easily and
naturally to their elders. He had always been a favour-
ite with old people. He prided himself on it. This fac-
ulty he regarded as a badge of honour. As he sat there
and talked with this frail little woman, his heart went
out to her in a great yearning love. She was the mother
of the bride of his soul. He would love her forever for
that. No matter whether she loved him or hated him.
He would love the mother who gave to his thirsty lips
the water of Life .
Drawn irresistibly by the magnetism of his mind and
manner Mrs. Worth forgot the flight of time and
thought but a moment had past when an hour after the
ball had opened, Sallie came out leaning on McLeod's
arm.
" Mama, have you been monopolising Mr. Gaston for
a whole hour?"
" He hasn't been here a half hour, Miss ! " cried her
mother.
" He's been here an hour and ten minutes. I'm going
to tell Papa on you just as soon as I get home."
" Go back to your dancing."
" No, thank you, I have an engagement to take a walk
with your beau. Come Mr. Gaston."
They walked to the spring and along the winding path
by the brook at the foot of the hill, and found a rustic
seat. They were both silent for several moments.
" I saw you were charming Mama, or I would have
The Rhythm of the Dance 253
" I hope she likes me."
" She has been praising you ever since your visit to
Independence. I never saw her talk so long to a
young man in my life before. You must have hypno-
tised her."
" I hope so."
A strange happiness filled her heart. She was afraid
to look it in the face; and yet she dared to play with
the thought.
"Are you enjoying your triumph to-night? I've had
war inside."
" I feel like I am the Emperor of the World and that
the Evening Star is smiling on my court ! "
She smiled, tossed her head, leaned against the tree
and said,
" I wonder if you are in the habit of saying things like
that to girls ? "
" Upon my soul and honour, no."
" Then thanks. I'll dream about that, maybe."
They returned to the hotel and McLeod claimed her.
They went back the same walk, and by a freak of fate he
chose the same seat she had just vacated with Gaston.
" Miss Sallie, you are of age now. You know that I
have loved you passionately since you were a child. I
have made my way in life, I am hungry for a home and
your love to glorify it. Why will you keep me waiting ? "
" Simply because I know now I do not love you, Allan,
and I never will. Once and forever, here, to-night I
give you my last answer, I will not be your wife."
" Then don't give the answer to-night. I can wait,"
he interrupted. " I am just on the threshold of a great
career. Success is sure. I can offer you a dazzling po-
sition. Don't give me such an answer. Leave the old
answer — to wait."
" No, I will not. I do not love you. If you were to
254 The Leopard's Spots
become the President, ' it would not change this fact, and
it is everything."
" Then you love another."
"That is none of your business, sir. I have known
you since childhood. I have had ample time to know my
own mind."
" All right, we will say good-bye for the present. You
have made me a laughing stock of young fools, but I can
stand it. I'll not give you up, and if I can't have you,
no other man shall."
" If you leave my will out of the calculation, you will
make a fatal mistake."
" Women have been known to change their wills."
Before leaving her that night Gaston held her hand
for an instant as he bade her good-bye and said, " Miss
Sallie, I thank you with inexpressible gratitude for the
honour you have done me."
" I've just been wondering what you have done to de-
serve it?"
" Absolutely nothing, — that's why it is so sweet. This
has been the happiest day I ever lived. I cannot see you
again before you go. I leave to-morrow on urgent busi-
ness. May I come to Independence to see you ? "
" Yes, I'll be delighted to see you. Good-night."
Gaston was the last to return to Hambright. He walked
the two miles through the silent starlit woods. He took
a short cut his bare feet had travelled as a boy, and with
uncovered head walked slowly through the dim aisles of
great trees. It was good, this cool silence and the soft
mantle of the night about his soul ! The stars whispered
love. The wind sighed it through the leaves.
He had withdrawn from the church in his college days
because he had grown to doubt everything — God, heaven,
hell, and immortality. To-night as he walked slowly
home he heard that wonderful sentence of the old Bible
The Rhythm of the Danoe 255
ringing down the ages, wet with tears and winged with
hope,
"God is love!"
He said it now softly and reverently, and the tears
came unbidden from his soul. He felt close to the heart
of things. He knew he was close to the heart of nature.
What if nature was only another name for God? And
he whispered it again,
"Godislove!"
" Ah ! If I only knew it I would bow down and worship
Him forever ! " he cried.
When Sallie reached her mother's room that night,
Mrs. Worth was seated by her window.
" Why didn't you dance? "
" Didn't care to."
" Sly Miss, you can't fool me. You didn't dance be-
cause Mr. Gaston couldn't. That was a dangerously
loud way to talk to him."
" How did you like him, Mama ? "
" Come here, dear, and sit on the edge of my chair.
I wish I knew when you were in earnest about a man.
I like him more than I can tell you. He talked to me
so beautifully about his mother, I wanted to kiss him.
He is charming."
"Why, Mama!"
" I'd like him for a son. There's a wealth of deep
tenderness and manly power in him."
" Mama, you're getting giddy ! "
But she kissed her mother twice when she said good
night.
CHAPTER X
THE HEART OF A VILLAIN
McLEOD had developed into a man of undoubted
power. He was but thirty-two years old, and
the dictator of his party in the state.
He had the fighting temperament which Southern peo-
ple demand in their leaders. With this temperament
he combined the skill of subtle diplomatic tact. He had
no moral scruples of any kind. The problem of expedi-
ency alone interested him in ethics.
McLeod's pet aversion was a preacher, especially a
Baptist or a Methodist. His choicest oaths he reserved
for them. He made a study of their weaknesses, and could
tell dozens of stories to their discredit, many of them
true. He had an instinct for finding their weak spots
and holding them up to ridicule. He bought every
book of militant infidelity he could find and memo-
rised the bitterest of it. He took special pride in scoffing
at religion before the young converts of Durham's
church.
He was endowed with a personal magnetism that fas-
cinated the young as the hiss of a snake holds a bird.
His serious work was politics and sensualism. In politics
he was at his best. Here he was cunning, plausible,
careful, brilliant and daring. He never lost his head in
defeat or victory. He never forgot a friend, or forgave
an enemy. Of his foe he asked no quarter and gave
none.
256
The Heart of a Villain
His ambitions were purely selfish. He meant to climb
to the top. As to the means, the end would justify them.
He preferred to associate with white people. But when
it was necessary to win a negro, he never hesitated to go
any length. The centre of the universe to his mind was
A. McLeod.
He was fond of saying to a crowd of youngsters whom
he taught to play poker and drink whiskey,
" Boys, I know the world. The great man is the man
who gets there."
He was generous with his money, and the boys called
him a jolly good fellow. He used to say in explanation
of this careless habit,
" It won't do for an ordinary fool to throw away money
as I do. I play for big stakes. I'm not a spendthrift.
I'm simply sowing seed. I can wait for the harvest."
And when they would admire this overmuch he would
warn them,
" As a rule my advice is, Get money. Get it fairly
and squarely if you can, but whatever you do, — get it.
When you come right down to it, money's your first, last,
best and only friend. Others promise well but when the
scratch comes, they fail. Money never fails."
A boy of fifteen asked him one day when he was mel-
low with liquor,
" McLeod, which would you rather be, President of
the United States or a big millionaire?"
" Boys," he replied, smacking his lips, and running his
tongue around his cheeks inside and softly caressing them
with one hand, while he half closed his eyes,
" They say old Simon Legree is worth fifty millions of
dollars, and that his actual income is twenty per cent on
that. They say he stole most of it, and that every dollar
represents a broken life, and ever£ cent of it could be
painted red with the blood of his victims. Even so, I
258 The Leopard's Spots
would rather be in Legree's shoes and have those millions
a year than to be Almighty God with hosts of angels
singing psalms to me through all eternity."
And the shallow-pated satellites cheered this blasphemy
with open-eyed wonder.
The weakest side of his nature was that turned toward
women. He was vain as a peacock, and the darling wish
of his soul was to be a successful libertine. This was
the secret of the cruelty back of his desire of boundless
wealth.
He had the intellectuat forehead of his Scotch father,
large, handsomely modelled features, nostrils that dilated
and contracted widely, and the thick sensuous lips of his
mother. His eyebrows were straight, thick, and sug-
gested undoubted force of intellect. His hair was a deep
red, thick and coarse, but his moustache was finer and
it was his special pride to point its delicately curved tips.
His vanity was being stimulated just now by two op-
posite forces. He was in love, as deeply as such a nature
could love, with Sallie Worth. Her continued rejection
of his suit had wounded his vanity, but had roused all the
pugnacity of his nature to strengthen this apparent
weakness.
He had discovered recently that he exercised a potent
influence over Mrs. Durham. The moment he was re-
pulsed, his vanity turned for renewed strength toward
her. He saw instantly the immense power even the slight-
est indiscretion on her part woud give him over the
Preacher's life. He knew that while he was not a de-
monstrative man, he loved his wife with intense devotion.
He knew, too, that here was the Preacher's weakest spot.
In his tireless devotion to his work, he had starved his
wife's heart. He had noticed that she always called him
" Dr. Durham " now, and that he had gradually fallen
into the habit of calling her " Mrsc Durham/'
The Heart of a Villain 259
This had been fixed in their habits, perhaps by the
change from housekeeping to living at the hotel. Since
old Aunt Mary's death, Mrs. Durham had given up her
struggle with the modern negro servants, closed her
house, and they had boarded for several years.
He saw that if he could entangle her name with his
in the dirty gossip of village society, he could strike
his enemy a mortal blow. He knew that she had grown
more and more jealous of the crowds of silly women
that always dog the heels of a powerful minister with
flattery and open admiration. He determined to make
the experiment.
Mrs. Durham, while nine years his senior, did not look
a day over thirty. Her face was as smooth and soft and
round as a girl's, her figure as straight and full, and her
every movement instinct with stored vital powers thai
had never been drawn upon.
She was in a dangerous period of her mental develop-
ment. She had been bitterly disappointed in life. Her
loss of slaves and the ancestral prestige of great wealth
had sent the steel shaft of a poisoned dagger into her
soul. She was unreconciled to it. While she was pass-
ing through the anarchy of Legree's regime which fol-
lowed the war, her unsatisfied maternal instincts absorbed
her in the work of relieving the poor and the broken.
But when the white race rose in its might and shook off
this nightmare and order and a measure of prosperity
had come, she had fallen back into brooding pessimism.
She had reached the hour of that soul crisis when she
felt life would almost in a moment slip from her grasp,
and she asked herself the question, " Have I lived ? "
And she could not answer.
She found herself asking the reasons for things long
accepted as fixed and eternal. What was good, right,
truth? And what made it good, right, or true?
a6o The Leopard's Spots
And she beat the wings of her proud woman's heart
against the bars that held her, until tired, and bleeding
she was exhausted but unconquered.
She was furious with McLeod for his open association
with negro politicians.
" Allan, in my soul, I am ashamed for you when I
see you thus degrade your manhood/'
" Nonsense, Mrs. Durham," he replied, " the most
beautiful flower grows in dirt, but the flower is not
dirt."
" Well, I knew you were vain, but that caps the cli-
max!"
" Isn't my figure true, whether you say I'm dog-fennel
or a pink ? "
" No, you are not a flower. Will is the soul of man.
The flower is ruled by laws outside itself. A man's will
is creative. You can make law. You can walk with
your head among the stars, and you choose to crawl in
a ditch. I am out of patience with you."
" But only for a purpose. You must judge by the end
in view."
" There's no need to stoop so low."
" I assure you it is absolutely necessary to my aims in
life. And they are high enough. I appreciate your in-
terest in me, more than I dare to tell you. You have
always been kind to me since I was a wild red-headed
brute of a boy. And you have always been my supreme
inspiration in work. While others have cursed and scoffed
you smiled at me and your smile has warmed my heart
in its blackest nights."
She looked at him with a mother-like tenderness.
" What ends could be high enough to justify such
methods ? "
" I hate poverty and squalour. It's been my fate. I've
sworn to climb out of it, if I have to fight or buy my
The Heart of a Villain 261
way through hell to do it. I dream of a palatial home,
of soft white beds, grand banquet halls, and music and
wine, and the faces of those I love near me. Besides,
the work. I am doing is the best for the state and the
nation." •
"But how can you walk arm in arm with a big black
negro, as they say you do, to get his vote ? "
" Simply because they represent 120,000 votes I need.
You can't tell their colour when they get in the box.
I use these fools as so many worms. My political
creed is for public consumption only. I never allow any-
body to impose on me. I don't allow even Allan McLeod
to deceive me with a paper platform, or a lot of articu-
lated wind. I'm not a preacher . "
She winced at that shot, blushed and looked at him
curiously for a moment.
" No, you are not a preacher. I wish you were a better
man."
" So do I, when I am with you," he answered in a
low serious voice.
" But I can't get over the sense of personal degrada-
tion involved in your association with negroes as your
equal," she persisted.
" The trouble is you're an unreconstructed rebel
Women never really forgive a social wrong."
" I am unreconstructed," she snapped with pride.
" And you thank God daily for it, don't you ? "
" Yes, I do. Human nature can't be reconstructed b</
the fiat of fools who tinker with laws," she cried.
" These thousands of black votes are here. They've
got to be controlled. I'm doing the job."
" You don't try to get rid of them."
"Get rid of them? Ye gods, that would be a task!
The Negro is the sentimental pet of the nation. Put
him on a continent alone, and he will sink like an iron
The Leopard's Spots
wedge to the bottomless pit of barbarism. But he is the
ward of the Republic — our only orphan, chronic, in-
capable. That wardship is a grip of steel on the throat
of the South. Back of it is an ocean of maudlin senti-
mental fools. I am simply making the most of the situ-
ation. I didn't make it to order. I'm just doing the
best I can with the material in hand."
" Why don't you come out like a man and defy this
horde of fools?"
" Martyrdom has become too cheap. The preachers
have a hundred thousand missionaries now we are trying
to support."
" Allan, I thought you held below the rough surface
of your nature high ideals, — you don't mean this."
" What could one man do against these millions ? "
" Do ! " she cried, her face ablaze. " The history of
the world is made up of the individuality of a few men.
A little Yankee woman wrote a crude book. The single
act of that woman's will caused the war, killed a million
men, desolated and ruined the South, and changed the
history of the world. The single dauntless personality
of George Washington three times saved the colonies
from surrender and created the Republic. I am surprised
to hear a man of your brain and reading talk like that ! "
" When I am with you and hear your voice I have
heroic impulses. You are the only human being with
whom I would take the time to discuss this question. But
the current is too strong. The other way is easier, and
it serves -my ends better. Besides, I am not sure it isn't
better from every point of view. We've got the Negro
here, and must educate him,"
" Hush ! Tell that to somebody that hates you, not to
me," she cried.
" Don't you think we must educate them ? "
" No, I think it is a crime."
The Heart of a Villain 263
" Would you leave them in ignorance, a threat to so-
ciety?"
" Yes, until they can be moved. When I see these
young negro men and women coming out of their schools
and colleges well dressed, with their shallow veneer of
an imitation culture, I feel like crying over the farce."
" Surely, Mrs. Durham, you believe they are better
fitted for life?"
" They are not. They are lifted out of their only
possible sphere of menial service, and denied any career.
It is simply inhuman. They are led to certain slaughter
of soul and body at last. It is a horrible tragedy."
Allan looked at her, smiled, and replied, " I knew you
were a bitter and brilliant woman but I didn't think you
would go to such lengths even with your pet aversions."
" It's not an aversion, or a prejudice, sir. It's a simple
fact of history. Education increases the power of the
human brain to think and the heart to suffer. Sooner or
later these educated negroes feel the clutch of the iron
hand of the white man's unwritten laws on their throat.
They have their choice between a suicide's grave or
a prison cell. And the numbers who dare the grave
arid the prison cell daily increase. The South is kinder
to the Negro when he is kept in his place."
" You are a quarter of a century behind the times."
" Am I so pld? " she laughed.
" The sentiment, not the woman. You are the most
beautiful woman I ever saw."
" I like all my boys to feel that way about me."
" You don't class me quite with the rest, do you ? "
She blushed the slightest bit. " No, I've always taken
a peculiar interest in you. I have quarrelled with every-
body who has hated and spoken evil of you. I have
always believed you were capable of a high and noble
life of great achievement,"
264 The Leopard's Spots
" And your faith in me has been my highest incentive
to give the lie to my enemies and succeed. And I will.
I will be the master of this state within two years. And
I want you to remember that I lay it all at your feet. The
world need not know it, — you know it." He spoke with
intense earnestness.
" But I don't want you to make such a success at the
price of Negro equality. I feel a sense of unspeakable
degradation for you when I hear your name hissed. At
least I was your teacher once. Come Allan, give up
Negro politics and devote yourself to an honourable
career in law ! "
He shook his head with calm persistence.
" No, this is my calling."
" Then take a nobler one."
" To succeed grandly is the only title to nobility here."
" Is the Doctor on speaking terms with you now ? "
" Oh ! yes, I joke him about his hide-bound Bourbon-
ism, and he tells me I am all sorts of a villain. But
we have made an agreement to hate one another in a
polite sort of way as becomes a teacher in Israel and a
statesman with responsibilities. By the way, I saw him
driving to the Springs with a bevy of pretty girls a few
hours ago."
"Indeed, I didn't know it!"
" Yes, he seemed to be having a royal time and to
have renewed his youth."
An angry flush came to her face and she made no reply.
McLeod glanced at her furtively and smiled at this evi-
dence that his shot had gone home.
" Would you drive with me to the Springs ? We will
get there before this party starts back." She hesitated,
and answered, " yes,"
CHAPTER XI
THE OLD OLD STORY
WHEN Gaston arrived in Independence he went
direct to St. Clare's,
" Where the Dickens have you been,
Gaston?"
" Jumping from Murphy to Manteo making love to
hayseed statesmen."
"What luck?"
" They're all crazy. They swear they are going to have
the United States establish a Sub-Treasury in Raleigh
and issue Government script they can use as money on
their pumpkins, or they are going to tear the nation to
tatters and vote for a nigger for Governor if necessary ! "
" Can't you get into their fool heads that an alliance
with the Republican party is the last way on earth for
them to go about their Sub-Treasury schemes ? "
" Can't seem to do a thing with them. McLeod's
stuffed them full. I'm sick of it. I've a notion to let
them go with the niggers and go to the devil. It's grow-
ing on me that there must be another way out. I can't
get down in the dirt and prostitute my intellect and lie
to these fools. We've got to get rid of the Negro."
" A large job, old man."
" Yes, it is, and thank God I'm done with it for a
week. I'm going to heaven now for a few days. I'll see
her in an hour . I rise on tireless wings ! "
" Look out you don't come down too suddenly. The
earth may feel hard,"
265
266 The Leopard's Spots
" Bob, I'm going to risk it, I'm going to look fate
squarely in the face and get my answer like a little man,
for life or death/'
Mrs. Worth met Gaston and greeted him with warmest
cordiality,
" We are charmed to welcome you to Oak wood again,
Mr. Gaston0"
" I assure you, Mrs. Worth, I never saw a home so
beautiful. I feel as though I am in paradise when I
get here,"
" I hope to see more of you this time, I feel that I
know you so much better since our talk at the Springs."
" Thank you, Mrs. Worth." He said this so simply
and earnestly she could but feel his deep appreciation of
her attitude of welcome,
" Sallie will be down in a minute."
Gaston smiled in spite of himselfo
" What are you laughing at? "
" I was just thinking how sweetly her name sounded
on your lips."
" Do you like these old-fashioned Southern names ? "
" I think they are lovely."
" Well, that's my name too."
Sallie suddenly stepped from the hall into the doorway.
" Now, Mama, there you are again carrying on with
one of my beaux! I don't know what I will do with
you!"
Mrs. Worth actually blushed, sprang up and struck
Sallie lightly on the arm with her fan exclaiming, " Oh !
you sly thing, to stand out there and listen to what I
said! Mr. Gaston I turn her over to you to punish her
for such conduct."
" Isn't she a dear ? " said Sallie when her mother was
gone.
" I was charmed with her at the Springs, but the
The Old Old Story 267
gracious way she made me feel at home this morning
completely won my heart,"
" I can do anything with Mama. She's the dearest
mother that ever lived. She always seems to know in-
tuitively my heart's wish, and, if it's best, give it to me,
and if it's not, she makes me cease to desire it. I wish
I could manage Papa as easily."
" I'm sure he idolises you, Miss Sallie."
" He does, but when he lays the law down, that settles
it. I can't move him one inch."
" That's the way with forceful men, who do things
in the world»"
" Well, I confess I like to have my own way sometimes.
I wonder if you are like that ? "
" I'll be frank with you. Somehow I never could be
anything else if I tried. I don't think a man of strong
character will yield to every whim of a woman, whether
wife or daughter."
" I heard of a man the other day who whipped his
wife," she said in a far away tone of voice. " Come, my
horse is ready, go with me for another ride to-day. I
am going to take you across the river and show you a
pretty drive over there."
They were soon lost in the deep shadows of the stately
pine forest that lay beyond the Catawba. The road was
a cross-country narrow way that wound in and out around
the big trees,
They jogged slowly along while he bathed his soul in
the joy of her presence. Oh, to be alone and near her!
There seemed to him a magic power in the touch of her
dress as she sat in the little buggy so close by his side.
For hours, again he lay at her feet and drank the wine
of her beauty until his heart was drunk with love.
Once he opened his lips to tell her, and a great fear
awed him into silence. He longed to pour out to her his
268 The Leopard's Spots
passion, but feared her answer. He had studied her every
word and tone and look and hand-pressure since he had
known her. He was sure she loved him. And yet he
was not sure. She was so skilled in the science of self
defence, so subtle a mistress of all the arts of polite
society in which the soul's deepest secrets are hid from
the world, he was paralysed now as the moment drew
near. He put it off another day and gave himself up to
the pure delight of her face and form and voice and
presence.
That evening when she entered the home her mother
caught her hand and softly whispered, " Did he court
you to-day, Sallie ? "
She shook her head smilingly. " No, but I think he
will to-morrow/'
St. Clare was sitting on his veranda awaiting Gaston's
return.
" What luck, old boy ? " he eagerly asked.
" Couldn't say a word. I'll do it to-morrow or die."
" Shake hands partner. I've been there."
" Bob, it's a serious thing to run up against a little
answer ' yes ' or ( no/ that means life or death."
" Feel like you'd rather live on hope a while, and let
things drift, don't you ? "
" Exactly. I think I can understand for the first time
in my life that awful look in a prisoner's face on trial
for his life, when he watches the lips of the foreman of
the jury to catch the first letter of the verdict. I used
to think that an interesting psychological study. By
George, I feel I am his brother now."
The next day was perfect. The warm life-giving sun
of June was tempered by breezes that swept fresh and
invigorating over the earth that had been drenched with
showers in the night. The woods were ringing with the
chorus of feathered throats chanting the old oratorio of
The Old Old Story 269
life and love. Again Gaston and Sallie were jogging
along the shady river road they had travelled on the first
day she had taken him driving.
" Do you remember this road? " she asked.
" I'll never forget it. Along this road we hurried in
the twilight to face your angry mother, and just one
kiss smoothed her brow into a welcoming smile for
me."
" Well, I'm going to risk greater trouble to-day, and
take you a mile or two further up the river to the old
mill' site at the rapids. It's the most beautiful and ro-
mantic spot in the country. The river spreads out a
quarter of a mile in width, and goes plunging and dash-
ing down the rapids through thousands of projecting
rocks, a mass of white foam as far as you can see. It's
full of tiny green islands with ferns and rhododendron
and wild grape vines, and their perfume sweetens the
air for miles along the water. These little islands, some
ten feet square, some an acre, are full of mocking-birds
nesting there, though since the mills were burned dur-
ing the war nobody has lived near. The songs of these
birds seem tuned to the music of the river."
" It must be a glimpse of fairy-land ! " he exclaimed.
" I know you will be thrilled with its romantic beauty.
It's five miles from a house in any direction."
Gaston was silent. He made a resolution in his
soul that he would never leave that spot until he
knew his fate. His heart began to thump now like a
sledge-hammer. He looked down furtively at her and
tried to imagine how she would look and what she would
say when he should startle her first with some word of
tender endearment or the sound of her name he had said
over and over a thousand times in his heart, and aloud
when alone, but never dared to use without its prefix.
She saw his abstraction and divined intuitively the cur-
470 The Leopard's Spots
rent of emotions with which he was struggling, but pre-
tended not to notice it. He tied the horse at the old mill,
and they walked slowly down the bank of the river,
" That is my island," she cried pointing out into the
river. " That third one in the group running oilt from
the point. We can step from one rock to another to
it,"
It was indeed an entrancing spot. The island seemed
all alone in the middle of the river when one was on it.
It was not more than fifty feet wide and a hundred feet
long, its length lying with the swift current. At the
lower end of it a fine ash tree spread its dense shade,
hanging far over the still waters that stood in smooth
eddy at its roots. On the upper side of this tree lay
a big boulder resting against its trunk and embedded
in a mass of clean white sand the water had filtered and
washed and thrown there on some spring flood.
She climbed on this rock, sat down, and leaned her
bare head against its trunk.
" This is my throne," she laughingly cried.
He leaned against the rock and looked up at her with
eyes through which the yearning, the hunger, the joy,
and the fear of all life were quivering. What a picture
she made under the dark cool shadows ! Her dress was
again of spotless white that seemed now to have been
woven out of the foam of the river. Her throat was
bare, her cheeks flushed, and her wavy hair the wind
had blown loose into a hundred stray ringlets about her
face and neck. Her lips were trembling with a smile at
his speechless admiration.
" You seem to have been struck dumb/' she said.
" Isn't this glorious ? "
" Beyond words, Miss Sallie. I didn't know there was
such a spot on the earth."
" This is my favourite perch. Art and wealth could
The Old Old Story 471
never make anything like this! I could come here and
sit and dream all day alone if Mama would let me."
He tried to begin the story of his love, but every time
his tongue refused to move. He was trembling with
nervous hesitation and began to dig a hole in the sand
with his heel.
" What is the matter with you to-day ? I never saw
you so serious and moody."
Just then a female mocking-bird in her modest dove-
coloured dress lit on a swaying limb whose tips touched
the still water of the eddy at their feet, and her proud
mate with head erect, far up on the topmost twig of the
ash struck softly the first note of his immortal love poem,
the dropping song.
" Listen, he's going to sing his dropping song ! " he
cried in a whisper.
And they listened. He sang his first stanza in a low
dreamy voice, and then as the sweetness of his love and
the glory of his triumph grew on his bird soul, he lifted
his clear notes higher and higher until the woods on the
banks of the river rang with its melody.
His mate turned her eyes upward and quietly twittered
a sweet little answer.
His response rang like a silver trumpet far up in the
sky ! He sprang ten feet into the air and slowly dropped
singing, singing his long trilling notes of melting sweet-
ness. He stopped on the topmost twig, sat a moment,
never ceasing his matchless song, and then began to fall
downward from limb to limb toward his mate, pouring
out his soul in mad abandonment of joy, but growing
softer, sweeter, more tender as he drew nearer. They
could see her tremble now with pride and love at his
approach, as she glanced timidly upward, and answered
him with maiden modesty. At last when he readied her
side, his song was so low and sweet and dream-like it
272 The Leopard's Spots
could scarcely be heard. He touched the tip of her beak
with a bird kiss, they chirped, and flew away t© the woods
together.
Gaston determined to speak or die. His eyes were wet
with unshed tears, and he was trembling from head to
foot. He had meant to pour out his love for her like
that bird in words of passionate beauty, but all he could
do was to say with stammering voice low and tense with
emotion,
"Miss Sallie, I love you!"
He had meant to say " Sallie," but at the last gasp of
breath, as he spoke, his courage had failed. He did not
look up at first. And when she was silent, he timidly
looked up, fearing to hear the answer or read it in her
face. She smiled at him and broke into a low peal of
joyous laughter! And there was a note of joy in her
laughter that was contagious.
" Please don't laugh at me," he stammered, smiling
himself.
She buried her face in her hands and laughed again.
She looked at him with her great blue eyes wide open,
dancing with fun, and wet with tears.
" Do you know, it's the funniest thing in the world,
you are the sixth man who has made love to me on this
rock within a year ! " and again she laughed in his face.
" Look here, Miss Sallie, this is cruel ! "
" Dear old rock. It's enchanted. It never fails ! " and
she laughed softly again, and patted the rock with her
hand.
" Surely you have tortured me long enough. Have
some pity."
" It is a pitiable sight to see a big eloquent man stam-
mer and do silly things isn't it? "
" Rease give me your answer," he cried still trembling,
The Old Old Story 273
" Oh ! it's not so serious as all that ! " she said with
dancing eyes.
" I'm in the dust at your feet."
" You mean in the sand. Did you know that you dug
a hole in that sand deep enough to bury me in? I
thought once you were meditating murder by the ex-
pression on your face."
" Please give me one earnest look from your eyes," he
pleaded.
" You're a terrible disappointment," she answered lean-
ing back and putting her hands behind her head thought-
fully.
His heart stood still at this unexpected speech.
" How ? " he slowly asked, looking down at the sand
again.
" Because," she said in her old tantalising tone, " I
expected so much of you."
" Then you don't class me with the other poor devils
at least ? " he asked hopefully.
" No, no, they were handsome boys and made me beau-
tiful speeches. But you are distinguished. You are a
man that everybody would look at twice in a crowd.
You are a famous young orator who can hold thousands
breathless with eloquence. I thought you would make
me the most beautiful speech. But you acted like a
school boy, stammered, looked foolish, and pawed a hole
in the ground ! " Again she laughed.
" I confess, Miss Sallie, I was never so overwhelmed
with terror and nervousness by an audience before,"
" And just one girl to hear! "
" Yes, but she counts more with me than all the other
millions, and one kind look from her eyes I would hold
dearer at this moment than a conquered world's ap-
plause » "
274 The Leopard's Spots
" That's fine ! That's something like it . Say more I "
she cried.
His face clouded and he looked earnestly at her.
" Come, come, Miss Sallie, this is too cruel. I have
torn my heart's deepest secrets open to you, and trem-
blingly laid my life at your feet, and you are laughing at
me. I have paid you the highest homage one human
soul can offer another. Surely I deserve better than
this?"
" There, you do. Forgive me. I have seen so much
shallow love making, I am never quite sure a boy's in
dead earnest." She spoke now with seriousness.
" You cannot doubt my earnestness. I have spoken to
you this morning the first words of love that ever passed
my lips. One chamber of my soul has always been
sacred. It was the throne room of Love, reserved for the
One Woman waiting 'for me somewhere whom I should
find. I would not allow an angel to enter it, and I hid it
from the face of God. I have opened it this morning.
It is yours."
She softly slipped her hand in his, and tremblingly
said, while a tear stole down her cheek,
" I do love you ! "
He bent over her hand and kissed it, and kissed it,
while his frame shook with uncontrollable emotion. Then
looking up through his dimmed eyes, he said,
" My darling, that was the sweetest music, that sen-
tence, that I shall ever hear in this world or in all the
worlds beyond it in eternity ! "
" When did you first begin to love me ? " she asked.
" I don't know. But I loved you the first moment you
looked into my face while I was speaking that day.
And I recognised you instantly as the Dream of my
Soul. I have loved you for ever, ages before we were
born in this world, somewhere, our souls met and knew
The Old Old Story 175
and loved. And I've been looking for you ever since.
When I saw you there in the crowd that day looking up
at me with those beautiful blue eyes, I felt like shouting
" I have found her ! I have found her ! " and rushing
to your side lest I should not see you again."
" It is strange — this feeling that we have known each
other forever. The moment you touched my hand that
first day, a sense of perfect content and joy in living came
over me. I couldn't remember the time when I hadn't
known you. You seemed so much a part of my inmost
thoughts and every day life. I laughed this morning
from sheer madness of joy when you told me your love »
I knew you were going to tell me to-day. You tried
yesterday, but I held you back. I wanted you to tell
me here at this beautiful spot, that the music of this
water might always sing its chorus with the memory
of your words."
" Let me kiss your lips once! " he 'pleaded.
" No, you shall hold my hand and kiss that. Your
touch thrills every nerve of my being like wine. It is
enough. I promised Mama I would never allow a man
to kiss me without asking her. And we are like loving
comrades. I couldn't violate a promise to her. I will,
when she says so."
" Then I'll ask her. I know she's on my side."
" Yes, I believe she loves you because I do."
" What did you whisper to her that night, when we
came late, and you said she would be angry? "
" Told her I loved you."
" If I could only have caught that whisper then I You
don't know how it delights me to think your mother
likes me. I couldn't help loving her. It seems to me a
divine seal on our lives/'
" Yes, and what specially delights me is, you have
completely captured Papa, and he's so hard to please."
276 The Leopard's Spots
" You don't say so! "
" Yes, he's been preaching you at me ever since you
came the first time. I pretended to be indifferent to
draw him out. He would say, ' Now Sallie, there's a
man for you, — no pretty dude, but a man, with a kingly
eye and a big brain. That's the kind of a man who does
things in the world and makes history for smaller men
to read/ " And then I'd say just to aggravate him, ' But
Papa he's as poor as Job's turkey ! '
" Then you ought to have heard him, ' Well, what of
it! You can begin in a cabin like your mother and I
did. He's got a better start than I had, for he has a better
training/ "
" I am certainly glad to hear that ! " Gaston cried with
elation.
" You may be. For Papa is a man of such intense
likes and dislikes. The first thing that made my heart
flutter with fear was that he might not like you. He
loves me intensely. And I love him devotedly. I could
not marry without his consent. You are so entirely dif-
ferent from any other beau I ever had, I couldn't imagine
what Papa would think of you. You wear such a serious
face, never go into society, care nothing for fine clothes,
and are so careless that you even hung your feet out
of the buggy that first day I took you to drive. I was
glad to have you in the woods and not in town. The
boys would have guyed me to death. In fact you are
the contradiction of the average man I have known, and
of all the men I thought as a girl I'd marry some day.
I am so glad Papa likes you."
That evening when they reached the house, she hurried
through the hall to her mother who was standing on the
back porch. There was the sudden swish of a dress, a
kiss, another! and another! And then the low murmur
of a mother's voice like the crooning over a baby »
CHAPTER XII
THE MUSIC OF THE MILLS
WHEN Gaston reached his home that night St.
Clare had gone to bed. It was one o'clock.
He could not sleep yet, so he sat in the win-
dow and tried to realise his great happiness, as he looked
out on the green lawn with its white gravelled walk
glistening in the full moon.
''' The world is beautiful, life is sweet, and God is
good ! " he cried in an ecstasy of joy.
He sat there in the moonlight for an hour dreaming of
his love and the great strenuous life of achievement he
would live with her to inspire him. It seemed too good
to be true. And yet it was the largest living fact . Like
throbbing music the words were ringing in his heart
keeping time with the rhythm of its beat, " I do love you ! "
And then he did something he had not done for years,
— not since his boyhood, — he knelt in the silence of the
moonlit room and prayed . Love the great Revealer had
led him into the presence of God. The impulse was
spontaneous and resistless. " Lord, I have seen Tfiy face,
heard Thy voice, and felt the touch of Thy hand to-day !
I bless and praise Thee! Forgive my doubts and fears
and sins, cleanse and make me worthy of her whom Thou
has sent as Thy messenger ! " So he poured out his soul.
Next morning he grasped St. Clare's hand as he en-
tered the room. " Bob, I'm the happiest man in the
world!"
" Congratulations ! You look it"
278 The Leopard's Spots
" She loves trie ! I'd like to climb up on the top of this
house and shout it until all earth and heaven could hear
and be glad with me ! "
" Well, don't do it, my boy. See her father first! "
" She says he likes me."
" Then you're elected."
" I'm going to tackle him before I go home."
" Don't rush him. There's a superstition prevalent
here that the old gentleman has no idea of ever letting
his daughter leave that home, and that he will never give
his consent, when driven to the wall, unless his son-in-
law that is to be, will agree to settle down there and
take his place in those big mills. He has two great loves,
his daughter and his mills, and he don't mean to let
either one of them go if he can help it."
"Do you believe it's true?"
" Yes, I do. How do you like the idea? "
" It's not my style. I've a pretty clear idea of what
I'm going to do in this world."
" Well, you'd better begin to haul in your silk sails,
and study cotton goods, is my advice."
" I'll manage him."
" I don't know about it, but if you've got her, you're
the first man that ever got far enough to measure him-
self with the General. I wish you luck."
" You the same, old chum. May you conquer Boston
and all the Pilgrim Fathers ! "
" Thanks. The vision of one of them disturbs my
dreams. One will be enough."
Then followed six golden days on the banks of the
Catawba. Every day he insisted with boyish enthusiasm
on returning to that rock and seating her on her throne.
He called her his queen, and worshipped at her feet.
He had the friendliest little chat with her mother, and
told her how he loved her daughter and hoped for her
The Music of the Milk 379
approval. She answered with frankness that she was
glad, and would love him as her own son, but that she
disapproved of kissing and extravagant love-making
until they were ready to be married, and their engage-
ment duly announced.
So he could only hold Sallie's hand and kiss the tips
of her fingers and the little dimples where they joined
the hand, and sometimes he would hold it against his
own cheek while she smiled at him.
But when they rode homeward one evening he dared
to put his arm behind her, high on the phaeton's leather
cushion, as they were going down a hill, and then lowered
it a little as they started up the grade. She leaned back
and found it there. At first she nestled against it very
timidly and then trustingly. She looked into his face
and both smiled.
" Isn't that nice, Sallie?"
" Yes, it is, — I don't think Mama would mind that,
do you ? "
" Of course not."
" Well, I never promised not to lean back in a phaeton,
did I?"
" Certainly not, and it's all right."
Toward the end of the week the General began to show
him a grave friendly interest. He invited Gaston to go
over the mills with him. The mills were located back
of the wooded cliffs a quarter of a mile up the river.
There were now four magnificent brick buildings stretch-
ing out over the river bottoms at right angles to its cur-
rent. And there was a big dye house, a ginning house
and a cotton-seed oil mill. The General stood on the hill
top and proudly pointed it out to him.
" Isn't that a grand sight, young man ! We employ
2,000 hands down there, and consume hundreds of bales
of cotton a day. We began here after the war without
The Leopard's Spots
a cent, except our faith, and this magnificent water
power. Now look ! "
" You have certainly done a great work,'* said Gas-
ton, " I had no idea you had so many industries in the
enclosure."
" Yes, I sit down here on the hill some nights in the
moonlight and look into this valley, and the hum of that
machinery is like ravishing music. The machinery seems
to me to be a living thing, with millions of fingers of
steel and a great throbbing soul. I dream of the day
when those swift fingers will weave their fabrics of gold
and clothe the whole South in splendour! — the South I
love, and for which I fought, and have yearned over
through all these years. Ah! young man, I wish you
boys of brain and genius would quit throwing yourselves
away in law and dirty politics, and devote your powers
to the South's development ! "
" Yes, but General, the people of the South had to go
into politics instead of business on account of the en-
franchisement of the Negro. It was a matter of life and
death."
" I didn't do it,"
" No, sir, but others did for you/*
" How ? " he asked incredulously, with just a touch of
wounded pride,
" Well how many negroes do you employ in these mills ?"
" None. We don't allow a negro to come inside the
enclosure,"
" Precisely so. You have prospered because you have
got rid of the Negro "
" I've simply let the Negro alone. Let others do the
same."
" But everybody can't do it. There are now nine mil-
lions of them. You've simply shifted the burden on
others' shoulders. You haven't solved the problem."
The Music of the Milk 281
" If we had less politics and more business, we would
be better off."
" But the trouble is, General, we can't have more busi-
ness until politics have settled some things."
" Bah ! You're throwing yourself away in politics,
young man! There's nothing in it but dirt and disap-
pointment."
" To me, sir, politics is a religion/'
" Religion ! Politics ! I didn't know you could ever
mix 'em. I thought they were about as far apart as
heaven is from hell ! " exclaimed the General.
" They ought not to be, sir, whatever the terrible facts,
I believe that the Government is the organised virtue of
the community, and that politics is religion in action. It
may be a poor sort of religion, but it is the best we are
capable of as members of society."
" Well, that's a new idea,"
" It's coming to be more and more recognised by
thoughtful men, General. I believe that the State is now
the only organ through which the whole people can
search for righteousness, and that the progress of the
world depends more than ever on its integrity and
purity/'
" Well, you've cut out a big job for yourself, if that's
your ideal. My idea of politics is a pig pen. The
way to clean it is to kill the pigs,"
Gaston laughed and shook his head.
When they returned from the mills, Mrs, Worth drew
the General into her room0
" Did he ask you for Sallie? "
" No, the young galoot never mentioned her name. I
thought he would. But I must have scared him."
" You didn't quarrel over anything? "
" No ! But I found out he had a mind of his own.**
" So have you, sir."
CHAPTER XIII
THE FIRST KISS
6 6 "WIT THY didn't you ask him yesterday?" cried
%/%/ Sal lie, as she entered the parlour the next
morning.
" Darling, I was scared out of my wits. We got
crossways on some questions we were discussing, and
he snorted at me once, and every time I tried to screw
up my courage to speak, a lump got in my throat and I
gave it up. I thought I'd wait a day or two until he
should be in a better humour."
" He's gone away to-day," she said with disappoint-
ment.
" I'm glad of it, I'll write him a letter."
" If you had asked him yesterday it would have been
all right. He told me so when he left this morning, with
a very tender tremor in his voice."
" But it will be all right, sweetheart, when I write."
" I wanted my ring," she whispered.
" You shall have it," he said, as he seized her hand and
led her to a seat.
" Have you got it with you ? " she asked with excite-
ment. " Let me see it quick."
He drew the little box from his pocket, withdrew the
ring, concealing it in his hand, slipped it on her finger
and kissed it. She threw her hand up into the light to
see it.
" Oh I it is glorious ! It's the big green diamond Hid-
The First Kiss 283
denite I saw at the Exposition ! It is the most beautiful
stone I ever saw, and the only one of its kind in size and
colour in the world. Professor Hidden told me so. I
tried to get Papa to buy it for me. But he laughed at
me, and said it was childish extravagance. Charlie dear,
how could you get it ? "
" That's a little secret. But there are to be no secrets
between us any more. I had a little hoard saved from my
mother's estate for the greatest need of my life. I con-
fess my extravagance."
" You are a matchless lover. I'm the proudest and
happiest girl that breathes."
" Nothing is too good for you, I wish I could make a
greater sacrifice."
" Wait, till I show it to Mama," and she flew to her
mother's room. She returned immediately, looking at
the ring and kissing it.
" Couldn't show it to her, she had company," she said.
" Allan is talking to her."
" Let's get out of the house, dear. I hate that man
like a rattlesnake."
" Don't be silly, I never cared a snap for him."
" I know you didn't, but there is a poison about him that
taints the air for me. Get your horse and let's go to
our place at the old mill."
They soon reached the spot, and with a laugh she
sprang upon the rock and took her seat against the tree.
" Now, dear, humour this whim of mine. I've grown
superstitious since you've made me happy. I have a pre-
sentiment of evil because that man was in the house. I
am going to take the ring off and put it on your hand
again out here where only the eyes of our birds will see,
and the river we love will hear."
" That will be nicer. I somehow feel that my life is
^ built on this dear old rock," she answered soberly.
284 The Leopard's Spots
He took the ring off her finger, dipped it in the white
foam of the river, kissed it, and placed it on her hand.
" Now the spell is broken, isn't it ? " she cried, holding
it out in the sunlight a moment to catch the flash of its
green diamond depth.
" I've another token for you. This, you will not even
show to your mother or father." She bent low over a
tiny package he unfolded.
" This is the first medal I won at college," he con-
tinued— " the first victory of my life. It was the force
that determined my character. It gave me an inflexible
will. I worked at a tremendous disadvantage. Others
were two years ahead of me in study for the contest. I
locked myself up in my room day and night for ten
months, and took just enough food and sleep for strength
to work. I worked seventeen hours a day, except Sun-
days, for ten months without an hour of play. I won
it brilliantly. Every line cut on its gold surface stands
for a thousand aches of my body. Every little pearl set
in it, grew in a pain of that struggle which set its seal on
my inmost life. I came out of those ten months a man.
I have never known the whims of a boy since."
" And you engraved something on the back to me I "
" Yes, can't you read it ? "
" My eyes are dim," she whispered.
" It is this — In the hand of manhood's tenderest love
I bring to thee my boyhood's brightest dream. I was a
man when I woke, but I have never lived till you taught
me. Keep this as a pledge of eternal love. It's the only
little trinket I ever possessed. The world will see our
ring. Don't let them see this. It is the seal of your
sovereignty of my soul in life, in death, and beyond.
Will you make me this eternal pledge ? "
" Unto the uttermost ! " she murmured.
" Unto the uttermost ! " he solemnly echoed.
The First Kiss 285
"And now, what can I say or do for you when you
show me in this spirit of prodigal sacrifice how dear I
am in your eyes ? "
" Those words from your lips are enough," he declared.
" 111 give you more. I'm going to give you just a little
bit of myself. I haven't asked Mama, but we are en-
gaged now — come closer."
She placed her beautiful arms around his neck and
pressed her lips upon his in the first rapturous kiss of
love.
" No, — no more. It is enough," she protested.
CHAPTER XIV
A MYSTERIOUS LETTER
HE was at home now, waiting impatiently for the
General's answer to his letter. Two weeks had
passed and he had not received it. But she
had explained in her letters that her father had returned
the day he left, had a talk with McLeod, and left on
important business. They were expecting his return at
any moment.
It was a new revelation of life he found in their first
love letters. He never knew that he could write before.
He sat for hours at his desk in his law office and poured
out to her his dreams, hopes and ambitions. All the
poetry of youth, and the passion and beauty of life, he
put into those letters.
He wrote to her every day and she answered every
other day. She wrote in half tearful apology that her
mother disapproved of a daily letter, and she added wist-
fully, " I should like to write to you twice a day. Take
the will for the deed, and as you love me, be sure to
continue yours daily."
And on the days the letter came, with eager trembling
hands he seized it, without waiting for -the rest of his
mail or his papers. With set face, and quick nervous
step, he would mount the stairs to his office, lock his door
and sit down to devour it. He would hold it in his hands
sometimes for ten minutes just to laugh and muse over it
and try to guess what new trick of phrase she had used
A Mysterious Letter 287
to express her love. He was surprised at her brilliance
and wit. He had not held her so deep a thinker on the
serious things of life as these letters had showed, nor
had he noticed how keen her sense of humour. He
was so busy looking at her beautiful face, and drink-
ing the love-light from her eyes, he had overlooked these
things when with her. Now they flashed on him as a
new treasure, that would enrich his life.
At the end of two weeks when the General had not
answered his letter he began to grow nervous. A vague
feeling of fear grew on him. Something had happened
to darken his future. He felt it by a subtle telepathy of
sympathetic thought. He was gloomy and depressed all
day after he had received and feasted on the wittiest
letter she had ever written. What could it mean
he asked himself a thousand times — some shadow had
fallen across their lives. He knew it as clearly as if the
revelation of its misery were already unfolded.
He went to the post-office on the next day he was to
receive a letter, crushed with a sense of foreboding. He
waited until the mail was all distributed and the general
delivery window flung open before he approached his
box. He was afraid to look at her letter. He slowly
opened the box.
There was nothing in it !
" Sam, you're not holding out my letter to tease me,
old boy ? " he asked pathetically.
Sam was about to joke him about the uncertainties ot
love, when his eye rested on his drawn face.
" Lord no, Charlie," he protested, " you know I
wouldn't treat you like that."
" Then look again, you may have dropped it/"
Sam turned and looked carefully over the floor, over
and under his desks and tables and returned.
" No, but it may have been thrown into the wrong bag
288 The Leopard's Spots
by that fool mail clerk on the train. You may get it
to-morrow."
He turned away and walked to his office, forgetting
his key in the open box. The vague sense of calamity
that weighed on his heart for the past two days, now
became a reality.
He sat in his office all the afternoon in a dull stupor
of suspense. He tried to read her last letter over. But
the pages would get blurred and fade out of sight, and
he would wake to find he had been staring at one sentence
for an hour.
He knew his foster mother would be all sympathy and
tenderness if he told her, but somehow he hadn't the
heart. She had led him to his love. He had been so
boyishly and frankly happy boasting to her of his
success, he sickened at the thought of telling her. He
went out for a walk in the woods, and lay down alone
beside a brook like a wounded animal.
The next day he watched his box again with the hope
that Sam's guess might be right, and the missing letter
would come. But, instead of the big square-cut envelope
he had waited for, he received a bulky letter in an old-
fashioned masculine handwriting with the post mark of
Independence, and a mill mark in the upper left hand
corner.
He did not have to look twice at that letter. It was the
sealed verdict of his jury. He locked his office door.
It was long and rambling, full of a kindly sympathy ex-
pressed in a restrained manner. He could not believe at
first that so outspoken a man as the General could have
written it. The substance of its meaning, however, was
plain enough. He meant to say that as he was not in a
position to make a suitable home at present for a wife,
and as he disapproved of long engagements, it seemed
A Mysterious Letter 289
better that no engagement should be entered into or
announced.
He stared at this letter for an hour, trying to grasp
the mystery that lay back of its halting, half-contradic-
tory sentences. He did not know till long afterwards
that the General had written it with two blue eyes tear-
fully watching him, and waiting to read it ; that now and
then there was the sound of a great sob, and two arms
were around his neck, and a still white face lying on
his shoulder, and that tears had washed all the harsh-
ness and emphasis out of what he had meant to write,
and all but blotted out any meaning to what he did write.
But withal it was clear enough in its import. It meant
that the General had haltingly but authoritatively denied
his suit. He instantly made up his mind to ask an inter-
view at his home, and know plainly all his reasons for
this change of attitude. He wrote his letter and posted
it immediately by return mail. He knew that the request
would precipitate a crisis, and he trembled at the out-
come. Either her father would hesitate and receive him,
or end it with a crash of his imperious will.
CHAPTER XV
A BLOW IN THE DARK
THE noon mail brought Gaston no answer. At
night he felt sure it would come.
When the wagon dashed up to the post-office
that night it was fifteen minutes late. He was walking
up and down the street on the opposite pavement along
the square, keeping under the shadows of the trees. He
turned, quickly crossed the street, and stood inside the
office, listening with a feeling of strange abstraction to
the tramp of the postmaster's feet back and forth as he
distributed the mail. He never knew before what a
tragedy might be concealed in the thrust of a bit of folded
paper into a tiny glass-eyed box. As he waited, fearing
to face his fate, he remembered the pathetic figure of a
grey-haired old man who stood there one day hanging
on that desk softly talking to himself. He was a stranger
at the Springs, and they were alone in the office together.
Now and then he brushed a tear from his eyes, glanced
timidly at the window of the general delivery, starting at
every quick movement inside as though afraid the win-
dow had opened. Gaston had gone up close to the old
man, drawn by the look of anguish in his dignified face.
The stranger intuitively recognised the sympathy of the
movement, and explained tremblingly : " My son, I am
waiting for a message of life or death " — he faltered,
seized his hand, adding, "and Tm afraid to see
it!"
290
A Blow in the Dark 291
Just then the window opened and he clutched his arm
and gasped, with dilated staring eyes,
" There, there it's come ! You go for me, my son, and
ask while I pray! — I'm afraid." How well Gaston re-
membered now with what trembling eagerness the old
man had broken the seal, and then stood with head
bowed low, crying,
" I thank and bless thee, oh, Mother of Jesus, for this
hour ! " And looking up into his face with tear-stream-
ing eyes he cried in a rich low voice like tender music,
" How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad
tidings ! "
He could feel now the warm pressure of his hand as
he walked out of the office with him.
How vividly the whole scene came rushing over him!
He thought he sympathised with his old friend that
night, but now he entered into the fellowship of his
sorrow. Now he knew.
At last he drew himself up, walked to his box and
opened it. His heart leaped . A big square-cut envelope
lay in it, addressed to him in her own beautiful hand . He
snatched it out and hurried to his office. The moment
he touched it, his heart sank. It was light and
thin. Evidently there was but a single sheet of paper
within.
He tore it open and stared at it with parted lips and
half-seeing eyes. The first word struck his soul with a
deadly chill. This was what he read :
" MY DEAR MR. GASTON :
I write in obedience to the wishes of my parents to
say our engagement must end and our correspondence
cease. I can not explain to you the reasons for this. I
have acquiesced in their judgment, that it is best.
I return /our letters by to-morrow's mail, and Mama
292 The Leopard's Spots
requests that you return mine to her at Oakwood
immediately.
I leave to-night on the Limited for Atlanta where
I join a friend. We go to Savannah, and thence by
steamer to Boston where I shall visit Helen for a month.
Sincerely,
SALLJE WORTH."
For a long time he looked at the letter in a stupor of
amazement. That her father could coerce her hand into
writing such a brutal commonplace note was a revelation
of his power he had never dreamed. And then his anger
began to rise. His fighting blood from soldier ancestors
made his nerves tingle at this challenge.
He took up the letter and read it again curiously study-
ing each word. He opened the folded sheet hoping to
find some detached message. There was nothing inside.
But he noticed on the other side of the sheet a lot of in-
dentures as though made by the end of a needle. He
turned it back and studied these dots under different
letters in the words made by the needle points. He
spelled, —
" My Darling— Unto the Uttermost ! "
And then he covered the note with kisses, sprang to
his feet and looked at his watch.
It was now ten-thirty. The Limited left Independ-
ence at eleven o'clock and made no stops for the first
hundred miles toward Atlanta. But just to the south
where the railroad skirted the foot of King's Mountain,
there was a water tank on the mountain side where he
knew the train stopped for water about midnight.
With a fast horse he could make the eighteen miles
and board the Limited at this water station. The only
danger was if the sky should cloud over and the star-
light be lost it would be difficult to keep in the narrow
A Blow in the Dark 293
road that wound over the semi-mountainous hills, densely
wooded, that must be crossed to make it.
" I'll try it! " he exclaimed. " Yes, I will do it! " he
added setting his teeth. " I'll make that train."
He got the best horse he could find in the livery stable,
saw that his saddle girths were strong, sprang on and
galloped toward the south. It was a quarter to eleven
when he started, and it seemed a doubtful undertaking.
The Limited would make the run from Independence,
fifty-two miles, in an hour at the most. If she were on
time it would be a close shave for him to make the eigh-
teen miles.
The sky clouded slightly before he reached the moun-
tain. In spite of his vigilance he lost his way and had
gone a quarter of a mile before a rift in the cloud showed
him the north star suddenly, and he found he had taken
the wrong road at the crossing and was going straight
back home.
Wheeling his horse, he put spurs to him, and dashed
at full speed back through the dense woods.
Just as he got within a mile of the tank he heard the
train blow for the bridge-crossing at the river near by.
" Now, my boy," he cried to his horse, patting him.
" "Now your level best ! "
The horse responded with a spurt of desperate speed.
He had a way of handling a horse that the animal re-
sponded to with almost human sympathy and intelligence.
He seemed to breathe his own will into the horse's spirit.
He flew over the ground, and reached the train just as
the fireman cut off the water and the engineer tapped his'
bell to start.
He flung his horse's rein over a hitching post that stood
near the silent little station-house, rushed to the track,
and sprang on the day coach as it passed.
He had intended to ride fifty miles on this train, see his
294 The Leopard's Spots
sweetheart face to face — learn the truth from her own
lips — and then return on the up-train. He hoped to ride
back to Hambright before day and keep the fact of his
trip a secret.
Now a new difficulty arose — a very simple one — that he
had not thought of for a moment. She was in a Pullman
sleeper of course, and asleep.
There were three sleepers, one for Atlanta, one for
New Orleans, and one for Memphis. He hoped she was
in the Atlanta sleeper as that was her destination, though
if that were crowded in its lower berths she might be in
either of the others. But how under heaven could he
locate her? The porter probably would not know her.
He was puzzled. The conductor approached and he
paid his fare to the next stop, fifty miles.
" I've an important message for a passenger in one of
these sleepers, Captain," he exclaimed. " I have ridden
across the mountains to catch the train here."
" All right, sir," said the genial conductor. " Go right
in and deliver it. You look like you had a tussle to get
here."
" It was a close shave," Gaston replied.
He stepped into the Atlanta sleeper and encountered
the dusky potentate who presided over its aisles.
The porter looked up from the shoes he was shining
at Gaston's dishevelled hair and gave him no welcome.
Gaston dropped a half dollar into his hand and the
porter dropped the shoes and grinned a royal welcome,
" Any ting I kin do f er ye boss ? "
"Got any ladies on your car?"
" Yassir, three un 'em."
"Young, or old?"
" One young un, en two ole uns."
" Did the young lady get on at Independence?*
" Yassir."
A Blow in rhe Dark 295
"Going to Atlanta?"
" Yassir."
"Is she very beautiful?"
" Boss, she's de purtiess young lady I eber laid my eyes
on — but look lak she been cryin'."
" Then I want you to wake her. I must see her."
" Lordy boss, I cain do dat. Hit ergin de rules."
" But, I'm bound to see her. I've ridden eighteen
miles across the mountains and scratched my face all to
pieces rushing through those woods. I've a message of
the utmost importance for her."
" Cain do hit boss, hits ergin de rules. But you can
go wake her yoself, ef you'se er mind ter. I cain keep
you fum it. She's dar in number seben."
Gaston hesitated. " No, you must wake her," he in-
sisted, dropping another half dollar in the porter's hand.
The porter got up with a grin. He felt he must rise
to a great occasion.
" Well, I des fumble roun' de berth en mebbe she wake
herse'f, en den I tell her."
Just then the electric bell overhead rang and the index
pointed to 7. " Dar now, dat's her callin' me, sho ! "
He approached the berth. " What kin I do fur ye
M'am?" he whispered.
" Porter, who is that you are talking to ? It sounds
like some one I know."
" Yassum, hit's young gent name er Gaston, jump oh
bode at the water station — say he got 'portant message
fur you."
" Tell him I will see him in a moment."
The porter returned with the message,
" You des wait in dar, in number one — hits not made
up — twell she come," he added.
There was the soft rustle of a dressing gown — he
sprang to his feet, clasped her hand passionately, kissed
296 The Leopard's Spots
it, and silently she took her seat by his side. He still
held her hand, and she pressed his gently in response.
He saw that she was crying, and his heart was too full
for words for a moment.
He looked long and wistfully in her face. In her di-
shevelled hair by the dim light of the car he thought her
more beautiful than ever. At last she brushed the tears
from her eyes and turned her face full on his with a sad'
smile.
" My own dear love ! " she sobbed, " I prayed that I
might see you somehow before I left. I was wide awake
when I first heard the distant murmur of your voice.
Oh ! I am so glad you came ! " and she pressed his
hand.
" I got your letter at ten-thirty " —
" Oh ! that awful letter ! How I cried over it. Papa
made me write it, and read and mailed it himself. But
you saw my message between the lines ? "
"Yes, and^then I covered it with kisses. But what
is. the cause of this sudden change of the General toward
me? What have I done?"
" Please don't ask me. I can't tell you," she sobbed
lowering her face a moment to his hand and kissing it.
" Don't ask me."
" But, my dear, I must know. There can be no secrets
between us."
" My lips will never tell you. There have been a thou-
sand slanders breathed against you. I met them with
fury and scorn, and no one has dared repeat them in my
hearing. I would not pollute my lips by repeating one
of them."
" But who is their author? "
" I can not tell you. I promised Mama I wouldn't. She
loves you, and she is on our side, but said it was best.
Papa has made up his mind to break our engagement for-
A Blow in the Dark 297
ever. And I defied him. We had a scene. I didn't know
I had the strength of will that came to me. I said some
terrible things to him, and he said some very cruel things
to me. Poor Mama was prostrated. Her heart is weak,
and I only yielded at last as far as I have because of her
tears and suffering. I could not endure her pleadings.
So I promised to do as he wished for the present, leave
for Boston, and cease to write to you."
" My love, I must know my enemy to meet him and
face the issues he raises. I can not be strangled in the
dark like this."
" You will find it out soon enough, I can not tell you,"
she repeated. " I only ask you to trust me, in this the
darkest hour that has ever come to my life. You will
trust me, will you not, dear ? " she pleaded.
" I have trusted you with my immortal soul. You
know this."
" Yes, yes, dear, I do. Then you can love and trust
me without a letter or a word between us until Mama
is better and I can get her consent to write to you? Oh,
I never knew how tenderly and desperately I love you
until this shadow came over our lives ! No power shall
ever separate us when the final test conies, unless you
shall grow weary."
" Do not say that," he interrupted. " I love you with
a love that has brought me out of the shadows and
shown me the face of God. Death shall not bring weari-
ness. But I dread with a sickening fear the efforts they
will make to plunge you into the whirl of frivolous
society. I shall be a lonely beggar a thousand miles
away with not one friendly face near you to plead my
cause."
" Hush ! " she broke in upon him. " You are for me
the one living presence. You are always near — oh so
near, closer than breathing 1 "
298 The Leopards Spots
The roar of the train became sonorous with the vibra-
tion of a great bridge. He started and looked at his
watch.
" We are more than half way to the stop where I muse
leave you and return."
" How long have you been here ? "
" Over a half hour. It does not seem two minutes.
Only a few minutes more face to face, and all life crowd-
ing for utterance ! How can I choose what to say, when
my tongue only desires to say / love you! Bend near
and whisper to me again your love vow," he cried in
trembling accents.
Close to his ear she placed her lips, holding fast his
hand whispering again and again, " My own dear love
— unto the uttermost . In life, in death, forever ! "
He bent again and pressed his lips on her hand and
she felt the hot tears.
*' And now, love, conies the hardest thing of all," she
sobbed, " I must return to you my ring."
" For God's sake keep it ! " he pleaded.
" No, I promised Mama for peace sake I would return
it. She is very weak. I could not dare to hurt her
now with a broken promise. She may not live long. I
could never forgive myself. Keep it for me, dear, until
I can wear it."
She placed it in his hand and it burnt like a red hot
coal. He placed it in an inside pocket next to his heart.
It felt like a huge millstone crushing him. A lump rose
in his throat and choked him until he gasped for
breath.
She looked at him pathet'cally and saw his anguish.
" Come, my love," she pleaded reproachfully, " you
must not make it harder for me. You are a man. You
are stronger than I am. Love is more my whole life
than it can be yours. For this cruel thing I have said
A Blow in the Dark 299
and done, you may press on my lips another kiss. If I
am disobedient to my mother's wishes God will forgive
me."
The train blew the long deep call for its hundred
mile stop and they both rose. He took her hands in
his.
" You have promised not to write to me, dear, but I
have made no promise. I will write to you as often as I
can send you a cheerful message," he said.
" It is so sweet of you ! "
" You have the little love-token still ? " he asked.
:< Yes, in my bosom. I feel it warm and throbbing
with your love, and it shall not be taken from me in the
grave!"
" That thought will cheer the darkest hours that can
come and now, till we meet again, we must say good-
bye," he said huskily.
She could make no response. He placed his arms
around her, pressed her close to his heart for a moment,
— one long wistful kiss, and he was gone.
He rode slowly back to Hambright. The eastern hori-
zon was fringed with the light of dawn when he reached
the town. The more he had thought of his position and
the way the General had treated him in attempting to
settle his fate by a fiat of his own will without a hearing,
the more it roused his wrath, and nerved him for the
struggle. They were to measure wills in a contest that
on his part had life for its stake.
" I'll give the old warrior the fight of his career ! " he
muttered as he snapped his square jaw together with the
grip of a vise. " My brains, and every power with which
nature has endowed me against his will and his money.
And for the dastard who has slandered me there will be
a reckoning."
He was fighting in the dark but deep down in him he
300 The Leopard's Spots
had a soldier's love for a fight. His soul rose to meet
the challenge of this hidden foe armed in the steel of
a proud heritage of courage. He went to bed and slept
soundly for six hours.
CHAPTER XVI
THE MYSTERY OF PAIN
G ASTON awoke next morning at half past ten
o'clock with a dull headache, and a sense of
hopeless depression. His anger had cooled and
left him the pitiful consciousness of his loss. He slowly
and mechanically dressed.
When he buttoned his coat he felt something hard
press against his heart. It was the ring. He sat down
on his bed and drew it from his pocket. To his surprise
he found coiled inside it and tied by a tiny ribbon a ring-
let of her hair. She had taken off the ring in her mother's
presence and promised her to register and mail it in
Atlanta. She had bound this little piece of herself with
it. He kissed it tenderly.
" My God, it is hard ! " he groaned. And all the un-
shed tears that his eager interest in her presence and his
kindling anger the night before had kept back now blinded
him.
He did not notice his door softly open, nor know his
mother was near until she placed her hand gently on his
shoulder. He looked up at her face full of tender sym-
pathy, and poured out to her his trouble in a torrent
of hot rebellious words.
" What have I done to be treated like a dog in this
way ? " he ended with a voice trembling with protest.
" Perhaps you have offended the General in some
way?"
301
joa The Leopard's Spots
" Impossible 4 I've been the soul of deference to
him."
" He's a very proud man when his vanity is touched,
are you sure of it ? "
" As sure as that I live. No, some scoundrel has in-
terfered between us and in some unaccountable way cov-
ered me with infamy in the General's eyes."
" But who could have done it ? "
" I used my utmost power of persuasion to get it from
her. But she would not tell me. I have been stabbed in
the dark."
" Whom do you suspect ? She has a dozen suitors."
" There's only one man among them who is capable of
it, Allan McLeod."
" Nonsense, child. He is not one of her suitors," she
protested warmly.
" Then why does he hang around the house with such
dogged persistence ? "
" He has always had the run of the house. His father
committed him to the General when he died on the battle
field."
Her face clouded, and then a great pity for his sorrow
filled her heart. She stooped and kissed him.
" Come, Charlie, you must cheer up. If she loves you,
it's everything. You will win her."
" But what rankles in my soul is that I have been
treated like a dog. If he objected to my poverty that
was as evident the first day he welcomed me to his house
as the day he dictated to her his brutal message, refusing
me a word. He welcomed me to his house, and gave Miss
Sallie his approval of our love while I was there. There
could be no mistake, for she told me so."
" I can't understand it," she interrupted.
" Now he suddenly shows me the door and refuses to
allow me to even ask an explanation. If he thinks he
The Mystery of Pain 303
can settle my life for me in that simple manner, I'll show
him that I'll at least help in the settlement."
" Good. I like to see your eyes flash that fire. Don't
forget your resolution. Your enemies are your best
friends." She said this with a ring of her old aristocratic
pride. " Come," she continued, " I've a nice warm break-
fast saved for you. You don't know how much good
you have done me in my lonely life."
" Dear Mother ! " he whispered pressing her hand.
After breakfast he went to his office and read over
slowly the letters he had received from Sallie, kissed
them one by one, tied them up and sent them to her
mother. He took the ring out of his pocket and locked
it in one of his drawers.
" I can't work to-day. It's no use trying ! " he muttered
looking out of his window. He locked his office and
started down town with no purpose except in the walk
to try to fight his pain. Instinctively he found his way
to Tom Camp's cottage.
" Tom, old boy, I'm in deep water. You've been there.
I just want to feel your hand."
Tom was clearing up his kitchen with one hand and
holding the other tight over the wound near his spinal
column. He had suffered untold agonies through the
night past and was suffering yet, but he never men-
tioned it.
" You've just got your blues again ! " Tom laughed.
" No, a devil has stabbed me in the back in the dark."
And he told Tom of his love and his inexplicable trouble.
" So, so ! " Tom mused with dancing eyes, " The Gen-
eral's gal Miss Sallie ! My ! my ! but ain't she a beauty !
Next to my own little gal there she's the purtiest thing
in No'th Caliny. And you're her sweetheart, and she
told you she loved you ? "
« Yes."
304 The Leopard's Spots
" Then what ails you ? Man, to hear that from such
lips as she's got's music enough for a year. You want
the whole regimental band to be play in' all the time. If
she loves you, that's enough now to give you nerve to
fight all earth and hell combined . " Tom urged this with
an enthusiasm that admitted no reply.
Flora had climbed in his lap, and was going through
his pockets to find some candy.
" You didn't bring me a bit this time ! " she cried re-
proachfully.
" Honey, I forgot it," he apologised.
" I don't believe you love me any more, Charlie," she
declared placing her hands on his cheeks and looking
steadily into his eyes, " Am I your sweetheart yet ? "
she asked.
" Of course, dearie, and about the only one I can de-
pend on ! "
" La, Charlie, your eyes are red ! " she cried in sur-
prise. " Do you cry ? "
" Sometimes, when my heart gets too full."
" Then, I'll kiss the red away ! " she said as she softly
kissed his eyes.
" That's good, Flora. It will make them better/
" Now, Pappy," she said triumphantly, " you say I'm
getting too big to cry, and I ain't but eleven years old,
and Charlie's big as you and he cries."
Tom took her in his arms and smoothed his hand over
her fair hair with a tenderness that had in its trembling
touch all the mystery of both mother and father love in
which his brooding soul had wrapped her.
Gaston returned home with lighter step. He met, as he
crossed the square, the Preacher who was waiting for him.
" Come here and sit down a minute. I've heard of your
trouble. You have my sympathy. But you'll come out
all right. The oak that's bent by the storm makes a fibre
The Mystery of Pain 305
fit for a ship's rib. You can't make steel without white
heat. God's just trying your temper, boy, to see if there's
anything in you. When he has tried you in the fire, and
the pure gold shines, he will call you to higher things."
Gaston nodded his assent to this saying, " And yet,
Doctor, none of us like the touch of fire or the smell of
the smoke of our clothes."
" You are right. But it's good for the soul. You are
learning now that we must face things that we don't like
in this world. I am older than you. I will tell you some-
thing that you can't really know until you have lived
through this. Love seems to you at this time the only
thing in the world. But it is not. My deepest sympathy
is with Sallie. She's already pure gold. To such a
woman love is the centre of gravity of all life. This is
not true of a strong normal man. The centre of gravity
of a strong man's life as a whole is not in love and the
emotions, but in justice and intellect and their expression
in the wider social relations/'
" And that means that I must brace up for this po-
litical fight?"
" Exactly so. And it's the best thing you can do for
your love. Become a power and you can coerce even a
man of the General's character."
" You are right, Doctor. I had my mind about fixed
on that course."
" You will find the County Committee in session in the
Clerk's office there now. They want to see you. I tell
you to fight this coalition of McLeod and the farmers
every inch up to the last hour it is formed, and if McLeod
wins them, and the alliance is made, then fight to break it
every day and every hour and every minute till the votes
are counted out."
Gaston went at once into the consultation with the
Democratic county committee.
CHAPTER XVII
IS GOD OMNIPOTENT?
AS Gaston left the Preacher, the Rev. Ephraim Fox
approached. He was the pastor of the Negro
Baptist church, and had succeeded old Uncle
Josh at his death ten years before.
He bowed deferentially, and, hat in hand, stood close
to the seat on which Durham was still resting.
" How dis you doan come down ter our chu'ch en
•preach fur us no mo Brer' Durham? We been er havin'
powerful times down dar lately, en de folks wants you ter
come en preach some mo."
" I can't do it, Eph."
" What de matter, Preacher? We ain't hu't yo feelin's,
is we?"
" No, not in a personal way, but you've got beyond
me."
" How's dat ? " asked Ephraim rolling his eyes.
" Well, as long as I preach to your folks about heaven
and the glory beyond this world, they shout and sweat
and sing. And when I jump on the old sinners in the
Bible, they are in glee. They like to see the fur fly.
But the minute I pounce on them about stealing, and
lying, and drinking, and lust, — they don't want to furnish
any of the fur . "
" De Lawd, Preacher, hit's des de same wid de white
folks ! " urged Ephraim with a wink.
" That's so. But the difference is your people talk
back at me after the meeting."
3C6
Is God Omnipotent? 307
" How's dat? " Ephraim repeated.
" Why when I preach righteousness and judgment on
the thief and accuse them of stealing, I lose my wood,
and my corn, and my chickens."
Ephraim was silent a moment and then he smiled as
he said,
" Preacher, dey ain't er nigger in dis town doan lub
you."
" Yes, I know it. That's why they steal from me so
much."
" Go long wid yo fun ! " roared Ephraim. " You know
you ain't gone back on us des cause some nigger tuck er
stick er" wood — deys sumfin' else — you cain fool me."
" Well, you are right, that isn't the main reason. There
are others. You turned a man out of your church for
voting the Democratic ticket."
" Yes, but Preacher," interrupted Eph impatiently,
" dat wuz er low-down mean nigger . He didn't hab no
salvation nohow ! "
" Then you keep a deacon in your church who served
two terms in the penitentiary."
" But dat's de bes' deacon I got," pleaded Eph sadly.
" Turn him out I tell you ! "
" But dey all does little tings."
" Turn 'em all out ! "
" Den we ain't got no chu'ch, en de shepherd ain't got
no flock ter tend, er ter shear. You des splain how de
Lawd tempers de win' ter de shorn lam'. Den ef I doan
shear 'em, de win' mought blow too hard on 'em. En
ef I doan keep 'em in de pen, how kin I shear 'em? I
axes you dat ? "
The Preacher smiled and continued, " Then I've heard
some ugly things about you, Eph," suddenly darting a
piercing look straight into his face.
"Who, me?"
308 The Leopard's Spots
" Yes, you. And I can't afford to go into the pulpit
with you any more. In the old slavery days you were
taught the religion of Christ. It didn't mean crime, and
lust, and lying, and drinking, whatever it meant. Your
religion has come to be a stench. You are getting lower
and lower. You will be governed by no one. I can't
use force. I leave you alone. You have gone beyond me."
" But de Lawd lub a sinner, en his mercy enduref for-
eber ! " solemnly grumbled Ephraim.
" In the old days," persisted the Preacher, " I used to
preach to your people. I saw before me many men of
character, carpenters, bricklayers, wheelwrights, farmers,
faithful home servants that loved their masters and were
faithful unto death. Now I see a cheap lot of thieves and
jailbirds and trifling women seated in high places. You
have shown no power to stand alone on the solid basis
of character."
" Why Brer' Durham," urged Eph in an injured voice,
" I baptised inter de kingdom over a hundred precious
souls las' year ! "
" Yes, but what they needed was not a baptism of
water. You negroes need a racial baptism into truth,
integrity, virtue, self-restraint, industry, courage, patience,
and purity of manhood and womanhood. I used to be
hopeful about you, but I'd just as well be frank with you,
I've given you up. I've said the grace of God was suf-
ficient for all problems. I don't know now. I'm getting
older and it grows darker to me. I have come to believe
there are some things God Almighty can not do. Can
God make a stone so big He can't lift it? In either
event, He is not omnipotent. It looks like He did just
that thing when He made the Negro. Leave me out of
your calculation, Ephraim."
" Mus' gib de nigger time, Preacher ! " Eph muttered
as he walked slowly away.
Is God Omnipotent? 309
When Gaston emerged from the court house, the
Preacher joined him and they walked home to the hotel
together.
" What did the two farmers on your committee think
of the chances of preventing the Alliance from joining
the negroes ? "
" Not much of them. They say we can't do anything
with them when the test comes, unless we will endorse
their scheme of issuing money on corn and pumpkins and
potatoes stored in a government barn. If it comes to
that, I will not prostitute my intellect by advocating any
such measure on the floor of our convention. We stand
for one thing at least, the supremacy of Anglo-Saxon
civilisation. I had rather be beaten by the negroes and
their allies this time on such an issue."
" But, my boy, if McLeod and his negroes get control
of this state for four years, they can so corrupt its laws
and its electorate, they may hold it a quarter of a cen-
tury. We must fight to the last ditch."
" I draw the line at pumpkin leaves for money," in-
sisted Gaston.
It was but ten days to the meeting of the Democratic
state convention, and they were coming together divided
in opinion, and at sea as to their policy, with a united
militant Farmers' Alliance demanding the uprooting of
the foundations of the economic world, and a hundred
thousand negro voters grinning at this opportunity to
strike their white foes, while McLeod stood in the back-
ground smiling over the certainty of his triumph.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE WAYS OF BOSTON
WHEN Helen Lowell reached Boston from her
visit with Sallie Worth, she found her father
in the midst of his political campaign. The
Hon. Everett Lowell was the representative of Congress
from the Boston Highlands district. His home was an
old fashioned white Colonial house built during the Amer-
ican Revolution.
He was not a man of great wealth, but well-to-do, a
successful politician, enthusiastic student, a graduate of
Harvard, and he had always made a specialty of cham-
pioning the cause of the " freedmen." He was a chronic
proposer of a military force bill for the South.
His family was one of the proudest in America. He
had a family tree five hundred years old — an unbroken
line of unconquerable men who held liberty dearer than
life. He believed in the heritage of good honest blood as
he believed in blooded horses. His home was furnished
in perfect taste, with beautiful old rosewood and ma-
hogany stuff that had both character and history. On
the walls hung the stately portraits of his ancestors repre-
sentative of three hundred years of American life. He
never confused his political theories about the abstract
rights of the African with his personal choice of associates
or his pride in his Anglo-Saxon blood. With him politics
was one thing, society another.
His pet hobby, which combined in one his philanthropic
310
The Ways of Boston 311
ideals and his practical politics, was of late a patronage
he had extended to young George Harris, the bright mu-
latto son of Eliza and George Harris whose dramatic
slave history had made their son famous at Harvard.
This young .negro was a speaker of fair ability and
was accompanying Loweil on his campaign tours of the
district, making speeches for his patron, who had ob-
tained for him a clerk's position in the United States
Custom House. Harris was quite a drawing card at these
meetings. He had a natural aptitude for politics ; modest,
affable, handsome, and almost white, he was a fine argu-
ment in himself to support Lowell's political theories,
who used him for all he was worth as he had at the
previous election.
Harris had become a familiar figure at Lowell's home
in the spacious library, where he had the free use of the
books, and frequently he dined with the family, when
there at dinner time hard at work on some political speech
or some study for a piece of music.
Lowell had met his daughter at the depot behind his
pair of Kentucky thoroughbreds. This daughter, his only
child, was his pride and joy. She was a blonde beauty,
and her resemblance to her father was remarkable. He
was a widower, and this lovely girl, at once the incar-
nation of his lost love and so fair a reflection of his
being, had ruled him with absolute sway during the past
few years.
He was laughing like a boy at her coming,
" Oh ! my beauty, the sight of your face gives me new
life ! " he cried smiling with love and admiration.
" You mustn't try to spoil me ! " she laughed.
" Did you really have a good time in Dixie ? " he whis-
pered.
" Oh ! Papa, such a time ! " she exclaimed shutting her
eyes as though she were trying to live it over again.
312 The Leopard's Spots
"Really?"
" Beaux, morning, noon and night, — dancing, moon-
light rides, boats gliding along the beautiful river and
mocking birds singing softly their love-song under the
window all night ! "
" Well you did have romance," he declared.
" Yes," she went on " and such people, such hospitality
— oh ! I feel as though I never had lived before."
" My dear, you mustn't desert us all like that," he pro-
tested.
" I can't help it, I'm a rebel now."
" Then keep still till the campaign's over ! " he warned
in mock fear.
" And the boys down there," she continued, " they are
such boys ! Time doesn't seem to be an object with them
at all. Evidently they have never heard of our uplifting
Yankee motto ' Time is money/ And such knightly def-
erence ! such charming old fashioned chivalrous ways ! "
" But, dear, isn't that a little out of date?"
" How staid and proper and busy Boston seems ! I
know I am going to be depressed by it."
" I know what's the matter with you ! " he whistled.
"What?" she slyly asked.
" One of those boys."
" I confess. Papa, he's as handsome as a prince."
"What does he look like?"
" He is tall, dark, with black hair, black eyes, slender,
graceful, all fire and energy."
"What's his name?"
" St. Clare— Robert St. Clare. His father was away
from home. He's a politician, I think."
" You don't say ! St. Clare . Well of all the jokes !
His father is my Democratic chum in the House — an old
fire-eating Bourbon, but a capital fellow."
" Did you ever see him?"
The Ways of Boston 313
" No, but I've had good times with his father. He
used to own a hundred slaves. He's a royal fellow, and
pretty well fixed in life for a Southern politician. I don't
think though I ever saw his boy. Anything really seri-
ous?"
" He hasn't said a word — but he's coming to see me
next week."
" Well things are moving, I must say ! "
" Yes, I pretended I must consult you, before telling
him he could come. I didn't want to seem too anxious.
I'm half afraid to let him wander about Boston much,
there are too many girls here."
Her father laughed proudly and looked at her. " 1
hope you will find him all your heart most desires, and
my congratulations on your first love ! "
" It will be my last, too," she answered seriously.
" Ah ! you're too young and pretty to say that ! "
" I mean it," she said earnestly with a smile trembling
on her lips.
Her father was silent and pressed her hand for an
answer. As they entered the gate of. the home, they met
young Harris coming out with some books under his arm.
He bowed gracefully to them and passed on.
" Oh ! Papa, I had forgotten all about your fad for that
young negro ! "
" Well, what of it, dear?"
" You love me very much, don't you ? " she asked ten-
derly. " I'm going to ask you to be inconsistent, for my
sake."
" That's easy. I'm often that for nobody's sake. Con-
sistency is only the terror of weak minds."
" I'm going to ask you to keep that young negro out
of the house when my Southern friends are here. After
my sweetheart comes I expect Sallie and her mother. 1
wouldn't have either of them to meet him here in our
314 The Leopard's Spots
library and especially in our dining-room for anything on
earth!"
"Well, you have joined the rebels, haven't you?"
"You know I never did like negroes any way," she
continued. " They always gave me the horrors. Young
Harris is a scholarly gentleman, I know. He is good-
looking, talented, and I've played his music for him
sometimes to please you, but I can't get over that little
kink in his hair, his big nostrils and full lips, and when
he looks at me, it makes my flesh creep."
" Certainly, my darling, you don't need to coax me.
The Lowells, I suspect, know by this time what is due to
a guest. When your guests come, our home and our time
are theirs. If eating meat offends, we will live on herbs.
I'll send Harris down to the other side of the district and
keep him at work there until the end of the campaign.
My slightest wish is law for him."
" You see, Papa," she went on, " they never could un-
derstand that negro's easy ways around our house, and
I know if he were to sit down at our table with them
they would walk out of the dining-room with an excuse
of illness and go home on the first train."
" And yet," returned her father lifting her from the
carriage, " their homes were full of negroes were they
not?"
" Yes, but they know their place. I've seen those beau-
tiful Southern children kiss their old black ' Mammy/
It made me shudder, until I discovered they did it just as
I kiss Fido."
" And this a daughter of Boston, the home of Gar-
rison and Sumner ! " he exclaimed.
" I've heard that Boston mobbed Garrison once/' she
observed.
" Yes, and I doubt if we have canonised Sumner yet.
AH right. If you say so, I'll order a steam calliope sta-
The Ways of Boston 315
tioned at the gate and hire a man to play Dixie for
you!"
She laughed, and ran up the steps.
Sallie determined to keep the secret of her sorrow in
her own heart. On the ocean voyage she had cried the
whole first day, and then kissed her lover's picture, put
it down in the bottom of her trunk, brushed the tears
away and determined the world should not look on her
suffering.
She had written Helen of her lover's declaration, and
of her happiness. She would find a good excuse for her
sorrowful face in their separation. She knew he would
write to her, for he had said so, and she had slipped the
address into his hand as he left the car that night.
At first she was puzzled to think what she could do
about answering these letters so Helen would not suspect
her trouble. Then she hit on the plan of writing to him
every day, posting the letters herself and placing them in
her own trunk instead of the post-box.
" He will read them some day. They will relieve my
heart," she sadly told herself.
Helen met her on the pier with a cry of girlish joy, and
the first word she uttered was,
" Oh ! Sallie, Bob loves me ! He's been here two weeks,
and he's just gone home. I have been in heaven. We
are engaged ! "
" Then I'll kiss you again, Helen . " — She gave her an-
other kiss.
" And I've a big letter at home for you alreadyl It's
post-marked ' Hambright.' It came this morning. I
know you will feast on it. If Bob don't write me faithfully
I'll make him come here and live in Boston."
When Sallie got this letter, she sat down in her room,
316 The Leopard's Spots
and read and re-read its passionate words. There was a
tone of bitterness and wounded pride in it. She struggled
bravely to keep the tears back. Then the tone of the
letter changed to tenderness and faith and infinite love
that struggled in vain for utterance.
She kissed the name and sighed. " Now I must go
down and chat and smile with Helen. She's so silly
about her own love, if I talk about Bob she will forget
I live."
CHAPTER XIX
THE SHADOW OF A DOUBT
MRS. WORTH had arrived in Boston a few days
after Sallie, coming direct by rail. She was
still very, weak from her recent attack, and it
cut her to the heart to watch Sallie write those letters
faithfully, and never mail them out of deference to her
wishes.
One night she drew her daughter down and kissed
her.
" Sallie, dear, you don't know how it hurts me to see
you suffer this way, and write, and write these letters
your lover never sees. You may send him one letter a
week, I don't care what the General says."
There was a sob and another kiss and, Sallie was crying
on her breast.
In answer to her first letter, Gaston was thrilled with
a new inspiration. He sat down that night and answered
it in verse. All the deep longings of his soul, his hopes
and fears, his pain and dreams he set in rhythmic
music. Her mother read all his letters after Sallie. And
she cried with sorrow and pride over this poem.
" Sallie, I don't blame you for being proud of such a
lover. Your life is rich hallowed by the love of such a
man. Your father is wrong in his position. If I were
a girl and held the love of such a man, I'd cherish it as
I would my soul's salvation. Be patient and faithful."
" Sweet mother heart ! " she whispered as she smoothed
the grey hair tenderly.
317
ji8 The Leopard's Spots
Allan McLeod had arrived in Boston the day before
and the morning's papers were full of an interview with
him on his brilliant achievement in breaking the ranks
of the Bourbon Democracy in North Carolina, and the
certainty of the success of his ticket at the approaching
election.
McLeod sent the paper to Mrs. Worth by a special
messenger, lest she might not see it, and that evening
called. He asked Sallie to accompany him to the theatre,
and when she refused spent the evening.
When her mother had retired McLeod drew his seat
near her and again told her in burning words his love.
" Miss Sallie, I have won the battle of life at its very
threshold. I shall be a United States Senator in a few
months. I want to lead you, my bride, into the gallery
of the Senate before I walk down its aisles to take the
oath. I have loved you faithfully for years. I have your
father's consent to my suit. I asked him before leaving
on this trip. Surely you will not say no ? "
" Allan McLeod, I do not love you. I do love another.
I hate the sight of you and the sound of your voice."
" If you do not marry Gaston, will you give me a
chance ? "
" If I do not marry the man of my choice, I will never
marry. Now go."
McLeod returned to the hotel with the fury of the devil
seething in his soul. He determined to return to Ham-
bright, and if possible entrap Gaston in dissipation and
destroy his faith in Sallie's loyalty.
He wrote to the General that he had been rejected by
his daughter who still corresponded with Gaston. When
General Worth received this letter he wrote in wrath to
his wife, peremptorily forbidding Sallie to write another
line to Gaston and closed saying,
" J had trusted this matter to you, my dear, now I
The Shadow of a Doubt 319
it out of your hands. I forbid another line or word to
this man."
Gaston watched and waited in vain for the letter he
was to receive next week. Again his soul sank with doubt
and fear. What fiend was striking him with an unseen
hand? He felt he should choke with rage as he thought
of the infamy of such a warfare.
His mother said to him shortly after McLeod's arrival,
" Charlie, I have some bad news for you."
" It can't be any worse than I have, the misery of an
unexplained silence of two weeks."
" I feel that I ought to tell you. It is the explanation
of that silence, I fear."
" What is it, Mother? " he asked soberly.
" I hear that Sallie has plunged into frivolous society,
is dancing every night at the hotel at Narragansett Pier
where they are stopping now, and flirting with a half-
dozen young men."
" I don't believe it," growled Gaston.
" I'm afraid it's true, Charlie, and I'm furious with
her for treating you like this. I thought she had more
character."
" I'll love and trust her to the end ! " he declared as
he went moodily to his office. But the poison of suspicion
rankled in his thoughts. Why had she ceased to write?
Was not this mask of society a habit with those who had
learned to wear it ? Was not habit, after all, life ? Could
one ever escape it ? It seemed to him more than probable
that the old habits should re-assert themselves in such a
crisis, a thousand miles removed from him or his personal
influence. He held a very exaggerated idea of the cor-
ruption of modern society. And his heart grew heavier
from day to day with the feeling that she was slipping
away from him.
CHAPTER XX
A NEW LESSON IN LOVE
McLEOD returned home to find his plans of po-
litical success in perfect order. ' The pro-
gramme went through without a hitch. In
spite of the most desperate efforts of the Democrats, he
carried the state by a large majority and made, for the
Republican party and its strange allies, the first breach
in the solid phalanx of Democratic supremacy since Le-
gree left his legacy of corruption and terror.
The Legislature elected two Senators. To the amaze-
ment of the world, the day before the caucus of the Re-
publicans met, McLeod withdrew. He had no opposi-
tion so far as anybody knew, but a curious thing had hap-
pened. The Rev. John Durham discovered the fact that
McLeod kept a still and had established his mother as an
illicit distiller years before. One of his deputies who had
become an inebriate, confessed this to the doctor who had
informed the Preacher.
The Preacher put this important piece of information
into the hands of a daring young Republican who had
always been one from principle. He went to Raleigh and
interviewed McLeod. At first McLeod denied, and blus-
tered, and swore. When he produced the proofs, he gave
up, and asked sullenly,
"What do you want?"
" Get out of the race."
"All right. Is that all? You're on top."
320
A New Lesson in Love 321
" No, give me the nomination."
" Never ! " he yelled with an oath.
" Then I'll expose you in to-morrow morning's paper,
and that's the end of you."
McLeod hesitated a moment, and then said, " I'll agree.
You've got me. But I'll make one little condition. You
must give me the name of your informant."
" The Rev. John Durham."
" I thought as much."
To the amazement of everyone McLeod waived the
crown aside and placed it on the head of one of his lieu-
tenants. He returned to Hambright from this dramatic
event with an unruffled front. To his cronies he said,
" Bah ! I was joking. Never had any idea of taking the
office for myself. I'm playing for larger stakes. I make
these puppets, and pull the strings."
He devoted himself assiduously in the leisure which fol-
lowed to Mrs. Durham. He never intimated to Durham
that he knew anything about the part he had taken in his
withdrawal from the Senatorship. Nor had the Preacher
told his wife of his discovery. They had quarrelled sev-
eral times about McLeod. His wife seemed determined
to remain loyal to the boy she had taught.
McLeod in his talk with her intimated that he had
withdrawn from a desire vaguely forming in his mind to
get out of the filth of politics altogether, sooner or later,
influenced by her voice alone.
With subtle skill he played upon her vanity and jeal-
ousy, and at last felt that he had entangled her so far
he could dare a declaration of his feelings. There was
one element only in her mental make-up he feared. She
held tenaciously the old-fashioned romantic ideals of love.
To her it seemed a divine mystery linking the souls that
felt it to the infinite. If he could only destroy this divine
mystery idea, he felt sure that her sense of isolation, and
312 The Leopard's Spots
her proud rebellion against the disappointments of life
would make her an easy prey to his blandishments.
He searched his library over for a book that could
scientifically demonstrate the purely physical basis of love.
He knew that somewhere in his studies at a medical
college in New York he had read it.
At last he discovered it among a lot of old magazines.
It was a brief study by a great physician of Paris, en-
titled " The Natural History of Love." He gave it to
her, and asked her to read it and give him her candid
opinion of its philosophy.
He waited a week and on a Saturday when the Preacher
was absent at one of his county mission stations he called
at the hotel for a long afternoon's talk. He determined
to press his suit.
" Do yon know, Mrs. Durham, what gives a preacher
his boasted power of the spirit over his audiences ? " he
inquired with a curious laugh in the midst of which he
changed his tone of voice.
" No, you are an expert on the diseases of preachers,
what is it ? "
" Very simple. Religion is founded on love, there
never was a magnetic preacher who was not a resistless
magnet for scores of magnetic women. If you don't be-
lieve it, watch how resistless is the impulse of all these
good-looking women to shake hands with their preacher,
and how fondly they look at him across the pews if the
crowd is too dense to reach his hand . "
A frown passed over her face, and she winced at the
thrust, yet her answer was a surprising question to him.
" Do you really believe in anything, Allan ? "
" You ask that? " he said leaning closer. " You whose
great dark eyes look through a man's very soul ? "
" I begin to think I have never seen yours. I doubt if
you have a soul."
A New Lesson in Love 323
" Well, what's the use of a soul ? I can't satisfy the
wants of my body . "
" Answer my question. Do you believe in anything? "
" Yes," he replied, his voice sinking to a tense whisper,
" I believe in Woman, — in love."
"In Woman?"
" Yes, Woman."
" You mean women," she sneered.
He started at her answer, looked intently at her, and
said deliberately,
" I mean you, the One Woman, the only woman in the
world to me."
" I do not believe one word you have uttered, yet, I
confess with shame, you have always fascinated me."
" Why with shame ? You have but one life to live.
The years pass. Even beauty so rare as yours fades at
last. The end is the grave and worms. Why dash from
your beautiful lips the cup of life when it is full to
the brim?"
"How skillfully you echo the dark thoughts that flit
on devil wings through the soul, when we feel the bitter-
ness of life's failure, its contradictions and mysteries ! "
she exclaimed, closing her eyes for a moment and leaning
back in her chair.
" You've often talked to me about the necessity of some
sort of slavery for the Negro if he remain in America. I
begin to believe that slavery is a necessity for all women."
" I fail to see it, sir."
" All women are born slaves and choose to remain so
through life. It is curious to see you, a proud imperious
woman, born of a race of unconquerable men, stagger-
ing to-day under the chains of four thousand years of
conventional laws made by the brute strength of men.
And you, if you struggle at all, beat your wings against
the bars that the slaveholding male brute has built about
324 The Leopard's Spots
your soul, fall back at last and give up to the will of your
master. This too, when you hold in your simple will
the key that would unlock your prison door and make
you free. It's a pitiful sight."
" How shrewd a tempter ! "
" There you are again. He who dares to tell you that
you are of yourself a living human being, divinely free,
is a tempter from the devil. You are thinking about
eternity. Well, now is eternity. Live, stand erect, take
a deep breath, and dare to be yourself and do what you
please. That is what I do. The future is a myth."
" Yes, I know the freedom of which you boast," she
quietly observed, " it is the freedom of lust. The return
to nature you dream of is simply the fall downward into
the dirt out of which a rational and spiritual manhood
has grown. I feel and know this in spite of your hand-
some face and the fine ring of your voice."
" Dirt . Dirt ! " he mused. " Yes, I was in the dirt
once, was born in it, the dirt of poverty and superstition
and fears of laws here and hereafter. But I awoke at
last, and shook it off, washed myself in knowledge and
stood erect. I am a man now, with the eye of a king,
conscious of my power. I look a lying hypocritical world
in the face. I have made up my mind to live my own life
in spite of fools, and in spite of the laws and conventions
of fools."
" And yet I believe you carry a horse-chestnut in your
pocket, and will not undertake an important work on Fri-
day?" she returned.
" But I never strangle a normal impulse of my nature
that I can satisfy. I am not that big a fool, at least."
She was silent, and then said, " I can never thank you
enough for the book you sent me."
McLeod sighed in relief at her change of tone. After
all she was just tantalising him !
A New Lesson in Love 325
" Then you liked it ? " he cried with glittering eyes.
" I devoured every word of it with a greed you can
not understand. A great man wrote it."
" Then we can understand each other better from to-
day," he interrupted smilingly.
" Yes, far better. You gave me this book hoping that
it might influence my character by destroying my ideal
of love, didn't you, now frankly ? "
" Honestly, I did hope it would emancipate you from
superstitions."
" It has," she declared, but with a curious curve of her
lip that chilled him.
" What are you driving at? " he asked suspiciously.
" This book has given me the key that unlocked for me,
for the first time, the riddle of my physical being. It
has shown me the physical basis of love, just as I knew
before there was a physical basis of the soul."
" What did you understand the book to teach ? " he
asked.
" Simply that love is fcased in its material life, on the
lobe of the brain which develops at the base of a child's
head near the age of thirteen. That this lobe of the brain
is the sex centre, and love is impossible until it develops.
That this centre of new powers at the base of the skull
is a physical magnet. That when a man and woman
approach each other, who are by nature mates, these mag-
netic centres are disturbed by action and reaction, and
that this disturbance develops the second elemental pas-
sion called love. The first elemental passion, hunger, has
for its end the preservation of the individual; while love
finds its fulfillment in the preservation of the species.
Love finds its satisfaction in the child, its ardour cools,
and it dies, unless kept alive by the social conventions of
the family, which are not based merely on this violent
emotion, but also on unity of tastes, which produce the
326 The Leopard's Spots
sense of comradeship. For these reasons it is possible
to fall violently in love more than once, and there are
dozens of people who possess this magnetic power over
us and would respond to it violently if we only came in
social contact with them. That the romantic bombast
about the possibility of but one love in life, and that
of supernatural origin, is twaddle, and leads to false
ideals. Have I given the argument ? "
" Exactly. But what do you deduce from it ? "
"Freedom!"
" Good ! " he cried, licking his lips.
" Freedom from superstitions about love," she an-
swered, " and positive knowledge of its elemental beauty
which Nature reveals. In short, I no longer wonder and
brood over your charm for me. I know exactly what it
means, and how it might occur again and again with an-
other and another. I have simply throttled it in a moment
by an act of my will, based on this knowledge."
" You amaze me."
" No doubt. One's character centres in the soul, or the
appetites. Mine is in the soul, yours in the appetites. I
see you to-day as you really are, and I loathe you with
an unspeakable loathing. You have opened my eyes with
this beautiful little book of Nature. I thank you. Your
scientist has convinced me that there are possibly a hun-
dred men in the world who would affect me as you do,
were we to meet. And when I looked back into the sweet
face of my dead boy, I learned another truth, that in
the union of my first great love I was bound in mar-
riage, not simply by a social convention, or a state con-
tract, but for life by Nature's eternal law. The period
of infancy of one child extends over twenty-one years,
covering the whole maternal life of the woman who mar-
ries at the proper age of twenty-four. This union of one
A New Lesson in Love
3*7
man and one woman never seemed so sacred to me as
now. It is Nature's law, it is God's law."
MeLeod's anger was fast rising.
"Don't fool yourself," he sneered, "You may over-
work your maternal intuitions. You remember the kiss
you gave me when a boy just fifteen? Well, you fooled
yourself then about its maternal quality. The magnet of
my red head drew your coal black one down to it with
irresistible power."
" Perhaps so, Allan. Your work is done. There is
the door. I say a last good-bye, with pity for your shal-
low nature, and the bitter revelation you have given me
of your worthlessness."
Without another word he left, but with a dark resolu-
tion of slander with which he would tarnish her name,
and wring the Preacher's heart with anguish.
CHAPTER XXI
WHY THE PREACHER THREW HIS LIFE AWAY
WHILE Mrs. Worth and Sallie were still in the
North, the Rev. John Durham received a
unanimous call to the pastorate of one of the
most powerful Baptist churches in Boston, with a
salary of five thousand dollars a year. He was receiving
a salary of nine hundred dollars at Hambright, which
could boast at most a population of two thousand. He
declined the call by return mail.
The committee were thunderstruck at this quick ad-
verse decision, refused to consider it final, and wrote him
a long urgent letter of protest against such ill-considered
treatment. They urged that he must come to Boston,
and preach one Sunday, at least, in answer to their gener-
ous offer, before rendering a final decision. He con-
sented to do so, and went to Boston. He sought Sallie
the day after his arrival.
" Ah, my beautiful daughter of the South, it's good to
see you shining here in the midst of the splendours of the
Hub, the fairest of them all ! " he said shaking her hand
feelingly.
" You mean pining, not shining," she protested.
" That's better still . I knew your heart was in the
right place ! "
" How is he, Doctor? " she asked.
" He's trying to pull himself together with his work,
and succeeding. The shock of a great sorrow has steadied
328
Why the Preacher Threw His Life Away 329
his nerves, broadened his sympathies, and it will make
him a man."
A look of longing came over her face. " I don't want
him to be too strong without me," she faltered.
" Never fear. He's so despondent at times I have to
try to laugh him out of countenance."
She smiled and pressed his hand for answer as he rose
to go.
" How do you like these Yankees, Miss Sallie?"
" I've been surprised and charmed beyond measure
with everything I've seen ! "
"You don't say so! .How?"
" Well, I thought they were cold-blooded and inhospi-
table. I never made a more foolish mistake. I have
never been more at home, or been treated more graciously
in the South. To tell you the truth, they seem like our
most cultured people at home, warm-hearted, cordial,
sensible and neighbourly. Mama is so pleased she's try-
ing to claim kin with the Puritans, through her Scotch
Covenanter ancestry."
" After all, I believe you are right. I never preached
in my life to so sensitive an audience. There's an at-
mosphere of solid comfort, good sense, and intelligence
that holds me in a spell here. This is the place in which
I've dreamed I'd like to live and work."
" Then you will accept, Doctor? "
"'Now listen to you, child! Don't you think I've a
heart too? My brain and body longs for such a home,
but my heart's down South with mine own people who
love and need me."
The committee did their best to bring the Preacher
to a favourable decision at once, but he smiled a firm
refusal. They refused to report it to the church, and
sent Deacon Crane, now a venerable man of seventy-six,
the warmest admirer of the Preacher among them all to
330 The Leopard's Spots
Hambright. They authorised him to make an amazing
offer of salary, if that would be any inducement, and
they felt sure it would.
When the Deacon reached Hambright and saw its
poverty and general air of unimportance he felt en-
couraged.
" A man of such power stay a lifetime in this little
hole ! Impossible ! " he exclaimed under his breath, when
he looked out of the bus along the wide deserted looking
streets with a straggling cottage here and there on either
side.
He stopped at the same hotel with the Preacher and
became his shadow for a week. He was seated with
him under the oak in the square, threshing over his argu-
ment for the hundredth time, in the most good-natured,
but everlastingly persistent way.
" Doctor, it's perfect nonsense for a man of your mag-
nificent talents, of your culture and power over an audi-
ence, to think of living always in a little village like this ! "
" No, deacon, my work is here for the South."
" But, my dear man, in Boston, it would be for the
whole nation, North and South. I'll tell you what we
will do. Say you will come, and we will make your
salary eight thousand a year. That's the largest salary
ever offered a Baptist preacher in America. You will
pack our church with people, give us new life, and we
can afford it. You will be a power in Boston, and a
power in the world."
The Preacher smiled and was silent. At length he said,
" I appreciate your offer, deacon. You pay me the
highest compliment you know how to express. But you
prosperous Yankees can't get into your heads the idea
that there are many things which money can't measure."
" But we know a good thing when we see it, and we go
for it ! " interrupted the deacon.
Why the Preacher Threw His Life Away 331
" Believe me," continued the Preacher, " I appreciate
the sacrifice, the generosity, and breadth of sympathy this
offer shows in your hearts. But it is not for me. My
work is here. I don't mind confessing to you that you
have vastly pleased me with that offer. I'll brag about
it to myself the rest of my life."
" But Doctor, think how much greater power a gener-
ous salary will give you in furnishing your equipment
for work, and in ministering to any cause you may have
at heart/' pleaded the deacon.
" I don't know. I have a salary of nine hundred dol-
lars. With five hundred I buy books, — food, clothes, shel-
ter, the companionship for the soul. The balance suffices
for the body. I haven't time to bother with money. The
man who receives a big salary must live up to its social
obligations, and he must pay for it with his life."
" Doctor, there must be some tremendous force that
holds you to such a decision in a village. It seems to me
you are throwing your life away."
" There is a tremendous force, deacon. It is the over-
whelming sense of obligation I feel to my own people
who have suffered so much, and are still in the grip of
poverty, and threatened with greater trials. I can't leave
my own people while they are struggling yet with this
unsolved Negro problem. Two great questions shadow
the future of the American people, the conflict between
Labor and Capital, and the conflict between the African
and the Anglo-Saxon race. The greatest, most danger-
ous, and most hopeless of these, is the latter. My place
is here."
The deacon laughed. " You're a crank on that subject.
Come to Boston and you will see with a better perspective
that the question is settling itself. In fact the war abso-
lutely settled it."
" Deacon," said the Preacher with a quizzical expres-
33 2 The Leopard's Spots
sion about his eyes, " Do you believe in the doctrine of
Election?"
" Yes, I do."
" I thought so. You know, I never saw a man who
believed in the doctrine of Election who didn't believe he
was elected. I never saw a man in my life, except a
lying politician, who declared the Negro problem was
settled, unless he had removed his family to a place of
fancied safety where he would never come in contact
with it. And they all believe that the Negro's place is
in the South."
The deacon laughed good-naturedly.
" Come with us, and we will show you greater prob-
lems. For one, the life and death struggle of Christianity
itself with modern materialism. I tell you the Negro
problem was settled when slavery was destroyed."
" You never made a sadder mistake. The South did
not fight to hold slaves. Our Confederate government
at Richmond offered to guarantee to Europe, the freedom
of every slave for the recognition of our independence.
Slavery was bound of its own weight to fall. Virginia
came within one vote in her assembly of freeing her
slaves years before the war. But for the frenzy of your
Abolition fanatics who first sought to destroy the Union
by Secession, and then forced Secession on the South, we
would have freed the slaves before this without a war,
from the very necessities of the progress of the material
world, to say nothing of its moral progress. We fought
for the rights we held under the old constitution, made
by a slave-holding aristocracy. But we collided with
the resistless movement of humanity from the idea of
local sovereignty toward nationalism, centralisation,
solidarity."
"That's why I say," interrupted the deacon, "your
Why the Preacher Threw His Life Away 333
Negro question has already been settled. The nation ha*
become a reality not a name."
"And that is why I know, deacon," insisted the
Preacher, "that we have not only not settled this ques-
tion,— we haven't even faced the issues. Nationality
demands solidarity. And you can never get solidarity
in a nation of equal rights out of two hostile races
that do not intermarry. In a Democracy you can not
build a nation inside of a nation of two antagonistic races,
and therefore the future American must be either an
Anglo Saxon or a Mulatto. And if a Mulatto, will the
future be worth discussing ? "
" I never thought of it in just that way," answered the
deacon.
" It is my work to maintain the racial absolutism of the
Anglo-Saxon in the South, politically, socially, economi-
cally."
" But can it be done ? I see many evidences of a mix-
ture of blood already," said the deacon seriously.
" Yes, we are doing it. This mixture you observe has
no social significance, for a simple reason. It is all the
result of the surviving polygamous and lawless instincts
of the white male. Unless by the gradual encroachments
of time, culture, wealth and political exigencies, the time
comes that a negro shall be allowed freely to choose a
white woman for his wife, the racial integrity remains
intact. The right to choose one's mate is the foundation
of racial life and of civilisation. The South must guard
with flaming sword every avenue of approach to this holy
of holies. And there are many subtle forces at work to
obscure these possible approaches."
" Well, no matter," broke in the deacon, " come with
us, and you will have more power to touch with your
ideas the wealth and virtue of the whole nation."
334 The Leopard's Spots
The Preacher was silent a moment and seemed to be
musing in a sort of half dream. The deacon looked at
him with a growing sense of the hopelessness of his task,
but of surprise at this revelation of the secrets of his
inner life.
" The South has been voiceless in these later years,"
he went on, " her voice has been drowned in a din of
cat-calls from an army of cheap scribblers and dema-
gogues. But when these children we are rearing down
here grow, rocked in their cradles of poverty, nurtured
in the fierce struggle to save the life of a mighty race,
they will find speech, and their songs will fill the world
with pathos and power.
" I've studied your great cities. Believe me the South
is worth saving. Against the possible day when a flood
of foreign anarchy threatens the foundations of the Re-
public and men shall laugh at the faiths of your fathers,
and undigested wealth beyond the dreams of avarice
rots your society, until it mocks at honour, love and
God — against that day we will preserve the South ! "
The Preacher's voice was now vibrating with deep
feeling, and the deacon listened with breathless interest.
, " Believe me, deacon, the ark of the covenant of Ameri-
can ideals rests to-day on the Appalachian Mountain
range of the South. When your metropolitan mobs shall
knock at the doors of your life and demand the reason
of your existence, from these poverty-stricken homes,
with their old-fashioned, perhaps mediaeval ideas, will
come forth the fierce athletic sons and sweet-voiced
daughters in whom the nation will find a new birth ! "
The Preacher's eyes had filled with tears and his voice
dropped into a low dream-like prophecy.
" You can not understand," he resumed, in a clear
voice, " why I feel so profoundly depressed just now be-
cause the Republican party, which, with you stands for
Why the Preacher Threw His Life Away 335
the virtue, wealth and intelligence of the community, is
now in charge of this state. I will tell you why. A
Republican administration in North Carolina simply
means a Negro oligarchy. The state is now being de-
bauched and degraded by this fact in the innermost depths
of its character and life. My place is here in this fight."
" But, Doctor, will not your industrial training of the
Negro gradually minimise any danger to your society ? "
" No, it will gradually increase it. Industrial training
gives power. If the Negro ever becomes a serious com-
petitor of the white labourer in the industries of the South,
the white man will kill him, just as your labour Unions
do in the North now where the conditions of life are hard,
and men fight with tooth and nail for bread. If you train
the negroes to be scientific farmers they will become a
race of aristocrats, and when five generations removed
from the memory of slavery, a war of races will be in-
evitable, unless the Anglo-Saxon grant this trained and
wealthy African equal social rights. The Anglo-Saxon
can not do this without suicide. One drop of Negro
blood makes a negro."
" I can't tell you how sorry I am, Doctor, that I can't
persuade you to become our pastor. But I can under-
stand since this talk something of the larger views of
your duty."
The deacon sought Mrs. Durham that evening and laid
siege to her resolutely.
" Ah ! deacon, you're shrewd — you are going to flatter
me, but I can't let you. I'm an old fogy and out of date.
I'm not orthodox on the Negro from Boston's point
of view."
" Nonsense ! " growled the deacon. " We don't care
what you or the Doctor either thinks about the Negro,
or the Jap, or the Chinaman. We want a preacher ira-
336 The Leopard's Spots
bued with the power of the Holy Ghost to preach the
Gospel of Christ."
" Well, you have quite captured me since you have
been here. You are a revelation to me of what a deacon
might be to a pastor and his wife. To be frank with you,
I am on your side. I am tired of the Negro. I don't
want to solve him. He is an impossible job from my
point of view. I should be delighted to go to Boston now
and begin life over again. But I do not figure in the
decision. Dr. Durham settles such questions for himself.
And I respect him more for it."
Encouraged by this decision of his wife the deacon
renewed his efforts to change the Preacher's mind next
day in vain. He stayed over Sunday, heard him preach
two sermons, and sorrowfully bade him good-bye on
Monday. He carried back to Boston his final word de-
clining this call.
As the deacon stepped on the train, he warmly pressed
his hand and said, " God bless you, Doctor. If you ever
need a friend, you know my name and address."
CHAPTER XXII
THE FLESH AND THE SPIRIT
G ASTON tried to wait in patience another week
for a word from the woman he loved, and when
the last mail came and brought no letter for
him, he found himself face to face with the deepest soul
crisis of his life.
After all, thoughts are things. The report of her so-
cial frivolities at first made little impression on him. But
the thought had fallen in his heart, and it was growing
a poisoned weed.
It is possible to kill the human body with an idea. The
fairest day the spring ever sent can be blackened and
turned from sunshine into storm by the flitting of a little
cloud of thought no bigger than a man's hand.
So Gaston found this report of dancing and flirting in
a gay society by the woman whom he had enthroned in
the holy of holies of his soul to be destroying his strength
of character, and like a deadly cancer eating his heart out.
•He sat down by his window that night, unable to work,
and tried to reconcile such a life with his ideal.
" Why should I be so provincial ! " he mused. " The
thing only shocks me because I am unused to it. She
has grown up in this atmosphere. To her it is a harm-
less pastime."
Then he took out of his desk her picture, lit his
lamp and looked long and tenderly at it, until his soul
was drunk again with the memory of her beauty, the
337
338 The Leopard's Spots
warm touch of her hand, and the thrill of her full soft
lips in the only two kisses he had ever received from the
heart of a woman.
Then, the vision of a ball-room came to torture him.
He could see her dressed in that delicate creation of
French genius he had seen her wear the memorable night
at the Springs. The French know so deeply the subtle
art of draping a woman's body to tempt the souls of men .
How he cursed them to-night! He could see her bare
arms, white gleaming shoulders, neck, and back, and
round full bosom softly rising and falling with her
breathing, as she swept through a brilliant ball-room to
the strains of entrancing music .
He knew the dance was a social convention, of course .
But its deep Nature significance he knew also. He knew
that it was as old as human society, and full of a thou-
sand subtle suggestions, — that it was the actual touch of
the human body, with rhythmic movement, set to the
passionate music of love. This music spoke in quivering
melody what the lips did not dare to say. This he knew
was the deep secret of the fascination of the dance for
the boy and the girl, the man and the woman. How he
cursed it to-night!
His imagination leaped the centuries that separate us
from the great races of the past who scorned humbug
and hypocrisy, and held their dances in the deep shadows
of great forests, without the draperies of tailors . These
men and women looked Nature in the face and were not
afraid, and did not try to apologise or lie about it. He
felt humiliated and betrayed.
He thought too of her wealth with a feeling of resent-
ment and isolation. Taken with this social nightmare it
seemed to raise an impossible barrier between them. He
knew that in the terrible quarrel she had with her father
on their first clash* he had sworn if she disobeyed him to
The Flesh and the Spirit 339
disinherit her. She had answered him in bitter defiance.
And yet time often changes these noble visions of poverty
and strenuous faith in high ideals. Wealth and all its
good things becomes with us at last habit. And habit is
life.
Could it be possible she had weakened in resolution of
loyalty when brought face to face with the actual break-
ing of the habits of a lifetime? Might not the three
forces combined, the habit of social conventions, the
habit of luxury, and the habit of obedience to a master-
ful and lovable father, be sufficient to crush her love at
last? It seemed to him to-night, not only a possibility,
but almost an accomplished fact.
At one o'clock he went to bed and tried to sleep. He
tossed for an hour. His brain was on fire, and his
imagination lit with its glare. He could sweep the
world with his vision in the silence and the darkness.
Yes, the world that is, and that which was, and is to
come!
He arose and dressed. It was half-past two o'clock.
He knew that this was to be the first night in all his life
when he could not sleep. He was shocked and sobered
by the tremendous import of such an event in the develop-
ment of his character. He had never been swept off his
feet before. He knew now that before the sun rose he
would fight with the powers and princes of the air for
the mastery of life.
He left his room and walked out on the road to the
Springs over which he had gone so many times in child-
hood. The moon was obscured by fleeting clouds, and
the air had the sharp touch of autumn in its breath. He
walked slowly past the darkened silent houses and felt
his brain begin to cool in the sweet air.
The last note he had received from her weeks ago was
the brief one announcing the new break in the poor little
340 The Leopard's Spots
correspondence she had promised him. The last para-
graph of that note now took on a sinister meaning. He
recalled it word by word :
" I feel like I can not trifle with you in this way again.
It is humiliating to me and to you. I can see no light in
our future. I release you from any tie I may have im-
posed on your life. I feel I have fallen short of what you
deserve, but I am so situated between my mother's fail-
ing health and my father's will, and my love for them
both, I can not help it. I will love you always, but you
are free."
Was not this a kindly and final breaking of their
pledge to one another? Yet she had not returned
the little medal he had given her with that exchange of
eternal love and faith. Could she keep this and really
mean to break with him finally ? He could not believe it.
His whole life had been dominated by this dream of an
ideal love. For it he had denied himself the indulgences
that his college mates and young associates had taken as
a matter of course. He had never touched wine. He
had never smoked. He had never learned the difference
between a queen and jack in cards. He had kept away
from women. He had given his body and soul to the
service of his Ideal, and bent every energy to the develop-
ment of his mind that he might grasp with more power
its sweetness and beauty when realised.
Did it pay? The Flesh was shrieking this question
now into the face of the Spirit ?
He had met the One Woman his soul had desired above
all others. There could be no mistake about that. And
now she was failing him when he had laid at her feet his
life. It made him sick to recall how utter had been his
surrender.
Why should he longer deny the flesh, when the soul's
dream failed the test of pain and struggle?
The Flesh and the Spirit 341
Was it possible that he had been a fool and was miss-
ing the full expression of life, which is both flesh and
spirit ?
The world was full of sweet odours. He had delicate
and powerful nostrils. Why not enjoy them? The world
was full of beauty ravishing to the eye. He had keen
eyes trained to see. Why should he not open his eyes
and gaze on it all? The world was full of entrancing
music. He had ears trained to hear. Why should he
stuff them with dreams of a doubtful future, and not
hear it all? The world was full of things soft and
good to the touch. Why should he not grasp them ? His
hands were cunning, and every finger tingled with sen-
sitive nerve tips. The world was full of good things
sweet to the taste, why should he not eat and drink as
others, as old and wise perhaps?
Was a man full-grown until he had seen, felt, smelled,
tasted, and heard all life? Was there anything after
all, in good or bad*? Were these things not names? If
not, how could we know unless we tried them? What
was the good of good things ?
" Am I not a narrow-minded fool, instead of a wise
man, to throttle my impulses and deny the flesh for an
imaginary gain? " he asked himself aloud.
She had written he was free.
" Well, by the eternal, I will be free ! " he exclaimed,
" I will sweep the whole gamut of human passion and
human emotion. I will drink life to the deepest dregs of
its red wine. I will taste, feel, see, touch, hear all! I
will not be cheated. I will know for myself what it is to
live."
When he woke to the consciousness of time and place,
he found he was seated at the Sulphur Spring where it
gushed from the foot of the hill, and that the eastern
horizon was grey with the dawn.
342 The Leopard's Spots
A sense of new-found power welled up in him. He
had regained control of himself.
" Good ! I will no longer be a moping love-sick fool.
I am a man. To will is to live, to cease to will is to die .
I have regained my will, — I live ! "
He walked rapidly back to town with vigourous step.
His mind was clear.
" I will never write her another line until she writes to
me. I will not be a dog and whine at any rich man's door
or any woman's feet. The world is large, and I am large.
I will be sought as well as seek. Besides, my country
needs me. If I am to give myself it will be for larger
ends than for the smiles of one woman ! "
And then for two weeks he entered deliberately on a
series of dissipations. He left Hambright and sought
convivial friends on the sea coast. He amazed them by
asking to be taught cards.
He swept the gamut of all the senses without reserve,
day after day, and night after night.
At the end of two weeks he found himself haunting the
post-office oftener, with a vague sense of impending cal-
amity.
" The thing's all over I tell you ! " he said to himself*
again and again. And then he would hurry to the next
mail as eagerly as ever. As the excitement began to tire
him, the sense of longing for her face, and voice, and the
touch of her hand became intolerable.
*" My God, I'd give all the world holds of sin to see her
and hear one word from her lips ! " he exclaimed as he
locked himself in his room one night.
" Why didn't she answer my last letter ? " he continued.
"Ah, that was the best letter I ever wrote her. I put
my soul in every word. I didn't believe the woman lived
who could read such confessions and such worship with-
out reply * Surely she has a heart 1 "
The Flesh and the Spirit 345
When he went to the post-office next day he got a
letter forwarded from Hambright by the Preacher. It
was postmarked Narragansett Pier, and addressed in a
bold masculine hand he had never seen before.
He tore it open, and inside found his last letter to
Sallie Worth, returned with the seal unbroken. He
sprang to his feet with flashing eyes, trembling from
head to foot.
" Ah ! they did not dare to let her receive another of
my letters ! So a clerk returns it unopened," he cried.
And a great lump rose in his throat as he thought of
the scenes of the past two weeks. The old fever and the
old longing came rushing over his prostrate soul now in «
resistless torrents : " How dare a strange hand touch
a message to her! I could strangle him. We will see
now who wins the fight." He set his lips with determina-
tion, packed his valise, and took the train for home
without a word of farewell to the companions of his
revels.
When he reached Hambright he felt sure of a letter
from her. A strange joy filled his heart.
" I have either got a letter or she's writing one to me
this minute ! " he exclaimed.
He went to the post-office in a state of exhilaration.
The letter was not there. But it did not depress him.
" It is on the way," he quickly said.
For two days, he remained in that condition of tense
nervous excitement and expectation, and on the follow-
ing day he opened his box and found his letter .
" I knew it ! " he said with a thrill of joy that was
half awe at the remarkable confirmation he had received
of their sympathy.
He hurried to his office and read the big precious mes-
sage.
How its words burned into his soul! Every line
344 The Leopard's Spots
seemed alive with her spirit. How beautiful the sight
of her handwriting ! He kissed it again and again. He
read with bated breath. The address was double expres-
sive, because it contained the first words of abandoned
tenderness with which she had ever written to him, ex-
cept in the concealed message dotted in the note that
broke their earlier correspondence.
" My Precious Darling : — I have gone through deep
waters within the last three weeks. I became so de-
pressed and hungry to see you, I felt some awful calamity
was hanging over you and over me, and that it was my
fault. I could scarcely eat or sleep.
I felt I should go mad if I did not speak and so I told
Mama. She sympathised tenderly with me but insisted
I should not write. She is so feeble I could not cross
her. But Oh! the agony of it! Sometimes I saw you
drowning and stretching out your hands to me for help.
Sometimes in my dreams I saw you fighting against
overwhelming odds with strong brutal men, whose faces
were full of hate, and I could not reach you .
I was nervous and unstrung, but you can never know
how real the horror of it all was upon me.
I made up my mind one night to telegraph you. I
heard some one talking inside Mama's room. I gently
opened the door between our rooms, and she was pray-
ing aloud for me. I stood spellbound. I never knew
how she loved me before. When at last she prayed
that in the end I might have the desire of my heart, and
my life be crowned with the joy of a noble man's love,
and that it might be yours, and that she should be per-
mitted to see and rejoice with me, I could endure it no
longer.
Choking with sobs I ran to her kneeling figure, threw
my arms around her neck and covered her dear face with
kisses.
The Flesh and the Spirit 34$
I could not send the message I had written after that
scene.
The next day Papa came, and she told him in my
presence, ' Now, General I have carried out your wishes
with Sallie against my judgment. The strain has been
more than you can understand. I give up the task. You
can manage her now to suit yourself.'
There was a firmness in her voice I had never heard
before. He noted it, and was startled into silence by it.
He had a long talk with me and repeated his orders with
increasing emphasis.
The next day I was unusually depressed. I did not
get out of bed all day. At night I went down to supper.
The clerk at the desk of the hotel called me and said,
' Miss Worth, I have a terrible sin to confess to you.
I'm a lover myself, and I've done you a wrong. I re-
turned to a young man yesterday a letter to you by re-
quest of the General. Forgive me for it, and don't tell
him I told you/
That night Papa and I had a fearful scene. I will not
attempt to describe it. But the end was, I said to him
with all the courage of despair: I am twenty-one years
old. I am a free woman. I will write to whom I please
and when 1 please and I will not ask you again. It is
your right to turn me out of your house, but you shall
not murder my soul !
Then for the first time in his life Papa broke down
and sobbed like a child. We kissed and made up, and I
am to write to you when I like.
Forgive my long silence. Write and tell me you love
me. My heart is sick with the thought that I have been
cowardly and failed you. Write me a long letter, and
you can not say things extravagant enough for my hun-
gry heart.
I feel utterly helpless when I think how completely you
346 The Leopard's Spots
have come to rule my life. I wish you to rule it. It is
all yours "
And then she said many little foolish things that only
the eyes of the one lover should ever see, for only to
him could they have meaning.
When he finished reading this letter, and had devoured
with eagerness these foolish extravagances with which
she closed it, he buried his face in his arms across his
desk.
A big strong boastful man whose will had defied the
world ! Now he was crying like a whipped child.
THE TRIAL BY FIRE
JBoofc ttbree— Ube ttrial b£ jffee
CHAPTER I
A GROWL BENEATH THE EARTH
APPARENTLY McLeod's triumph was complete
and permanent. The farmers were disappointed
in their wild hopes of a sub-treasury, and other
socialistic schemes, but the passions of the campaign had
been violent, and the offices they had won with their
Negro ally had been soothing to their sense of pride0
A Republican farmer was Governor for a term of four
years, they had elected two Senators, and three Supreme
Court judges, and they had completely smashed the power
of the Democratic party in the county governments.
Everywhere they were triumphant in the local elections,
filling almost every county office with heavy-handed sons
of toil from the country districts, and making the town
fops who had been drawing these fat salaries get out and
work for a living.
Even McLeod was amazed at the thoroughness with
which they cleaned the state of every vestige of the in-
vincible Democracy that had ruled with a rod of iron
since Legree's flight.
Gaston could see but one weak spot in the alliance.
The negroes had demanded their share of the spoils, and
were gradually forcing their reluctant allies to grant them.
He watched the progress of this movement with thrill-
ing interest. The negroes had demanded the repeal of
3*
350 The Leopard's Spots
the county government plan of the Democracy, under
which the credit of the forty black counties had been
rescued from bankruptcy at the expense of local self-
government.
When the lawmakers who succeeded Legree had put
tftis scheme of centralised power in force, these forty
counties were immediately lifted from ruin to prosperity.
But no negro ever held another office in them.
Now the negroes demanded the return to the principles
of pure Democracy and the right to elect all town, town-
ship, and county officers direct. They got their demands.
They took charge in short order of the great rich coun-
ties in the Black Belt, and white men ceased to Hold the
offices. /
A negro college-graduate from Miss Walker's classical
institution had started a newspaper at Independence noted
for its open demands for the recognition of the economic,
social and political equality of the races. Young negro
men and women walking the streets now refused to give
half the sidewalk to a white man or woman when they
met, and there were an increasing number of fights from
such causes.
Gaston noted these signs with a growing sense of their
import, and began his work for the second great cam-
paign. The election for a legislature alone, he knew was
lost already. His party had simply abandoned the fight.
The Allied Party had passed new election laws, and
under the tutelage of the doubtful methods of the past
they had taken every partisan advantage possible within
the limits of the Constitution. They could not be over-
thrown short oi a political earthquake, and he knew it.
But he thought he heard in the depths of the earth the
low rumble of its coming, and he began to prepare for it,
CHAPTER II
FACE TO FACE WITH FATE ^
THREE weeks before Christmas Gaston began tc
dream of the visit he was to make to Inde-
pendence to see Sallie Worth. How long it
seemed since she had kissed him in the twilight of that
Pullman car and the Limited had rolled away bearing
her further and further from his life ! He would sit now
for an hour reading her last letter, looking at her
picture on his desk, and dreaming of what she would say
when he sat by her side again in her own home.
And then like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky came
a tearful letter announcing another storm at home. Her
father had again forbidden her to write. She said, at
the last, that Gaston 's visit must be postponed indefinitely
for the present. He gazed at the letter with a hardened
look.
" I will go. I'll face General Worth in his own home,
and demand his reasons for such treatment. I am a man.
I am entitled to the respect of a man." He made this
declaration with a quiet force that left no doubt about
his doing it.
He wrote Sallie that he could not and would not en-
dure such a fight in the dark with the General, and that
he was going to Independence on the day before Christ-
mas as she had planned at first, to have it out with him
face to face.
She wrote in reply and begged Kim under no circuit
351
The Leopard's Spots
stances to come until conditions were more favourable.
He got this letter the day before he was to start.
" I'll go and I'll see him if I have to fight my way into
his house, that's all there is to it ! " he exclaimed.
When he reached Independence, St. Clare met him
at the depot, and gave him an eager welcome.
" I've been expecting you, you hard-headed fool ! " he
said impulsively.
" Well, your words are not equal to your handshake.
What's the matter? " asked Gaston.
" You know what's the matter. Miss Sallie has been
to see me this afternoon, and begged me to chain you
at my house if you came to town to-day."
" Well, you'll need handcuffs, and help to get them
on," replied Gaston with quiet decision.
" Look here, old boy, you're not going down to that
house to-night with the old man threatening to kill you
on sight, and your girl bordering on collapse ! "
" I am. I've been bordering on collapse for some time
myself. I'm getting used to it."
" You're a fool."
" Granted, but I'll risk it."
" But, man, I tell you Miss Sallie will be furious with
you if you go after all the messages she has sent you."
" I'll risk her fury too."
" Gaston, let me beg you not to do it."
" I'm going, Bob. It isn't any use for you to waste
your breath."
" You know where my heart is, old chum," said Bob,
yielding reluctantly. " I couldn't go down to that house
to-night under the conditions you are going for the
world."
" Why not? It's the manly thing to do."
" It's a dangerous thing to do. Fathers have killed
men under such conditions."
Face to Face with Fate 353
" Well, I'll risk it. I'm going as soon as I can brush
up a little."
Bob walked with him to the outskirts of the city,
begging in vain that he should turn back, but he never
slacked his pace.
When he turned to go home, Bob pressed his hand and
said " Good luck. And may your shadow never grow
less."
Gaston walked rapidly on toward Oakwood. As he
passed through the shadows of the forest near the gate,
a flood of tender memories rushed over him. He was
back again by her side on that morning he met her, with
the first flush of love thrilling his life. He could see
her looking earnestly at him as though trying to solve
a riddle. He could hear her laughter full of joy and
happiness. As he turned into the gateway the house
flashed on him its gleaming windows from the hill top.
He felt his heart sink with bitterness as he realised the
contrast of his last entrance into that house, its welcomed
guest, and his present unbidden intrusion. Once those
lights had gleamed only a message of peace and love.
Now they seemed signals of war some enemy had set
on the hill to warn of his approach.
He paused a moment and wiped the perspiration from
his brow. It was Christmas eve, but the air was balmy
and spring-like and his rapid walk had tired him. He
had eaten nothing all day, had slept only a few hours the
night before, and the nerve strain had been more than
he knew.
He looked up at the great white pillars softly shining
in the starlight, and a sickening fear of a possible tragedy
behind those doors crept over him.
" My God ! " he exclaimed, " I had rather charge a
breastworks in the face of flashing guns than to go into
that house to-night and meet one man ! "
354 The Leopard's Spots
He recognised the breach of the finer amenities of life
involved in forcing his way into a home under such con-
ditions, and it humiliated him for a moment
" We will not stickle for forms now," he said to him-
self firmly. " This is war. I am to uncover the batteries
of my enemy. I have hesitated long enough. I will not
fight in the dark another day."
As he stepped briskly up to the door, he started at a
sudden thought. What if the General had ordered the
servants to slam the door in his face ! The possibility of
such an unforeseen insult made the cold sweat break out
over his face as he rang the bell. No matter, he was in
for it now, he would face hell if need be !
He waited but an instant, and heard the heavy tread
of a man approach the door. Instinctively he knew that
the General himself was on guard, and would open the
door. Evidently he had expected him.
The door opened about two feet and the General glared
at him livid with rage. He held one hand on the door
and the other on its facing, and his towering figure filled
the space.
" Good evening, General ! " said Gaston with embarrass-
ment.
" What do you want, sir? " he growledo
" I wish to see you for a few minutes."
" Well, I don't want to see you."
" Whether you wish to or not, you must do it sooner
of later," answered Gaston with dignity.
" Indeed ! Your insolence is sublime, I must say ! "
" The sooner you and I have a plain talk the better for
both of us. It can't be put off any longer," Gaston
continued with self control. He was looking the General
straight in the eyes now, with head and broad shoulders
erect and his square-cut jaws were snapping his words
Face to Face with Fate 355
with a clean emphasis that was not lost on the older
master of men before him.
" Call at my office in the morning at ten o'clock," he
said, at length.
" I will not do it. I am going home on the nine o'clock
train. To-morrow is Christmas day. The issue between
us is of life import to me, and it may be of equal im-
portance to you. I will not put it off another hour ! "
The General glared at him. His hands began to
tremble, and raising his voice, he thundered,
" I am not accustomed to take orders from young up-
starts . How dare you attempt to force yourself into my
house when you were told again and again not to attempt
it, sir?"
" Your former welcome to me on three occasions when
the object of my visits was as well known to you as to
me, gives me, at least, the vested rights of a final inter-
view. I demand it," retorted Gaston curtly.
"And I refuse it!" Still there was a note of inde-
cision in his voice which Gaston was quick to catch.
" General," he protested, " you are a soldier and a
gentleman. You never fought an enemy with uncivilised
warfare. Yet you have allowed some one under your
protection to stab me in the dark for the past year. I am
entitled to know why I fight and against whom. I ask
your sense of fairness as a soldier if I am not right ? "
The General hesitated, and finally said, as he opened
the door,
" Walk into the parlour."
When they were seated, Gaston plunged immediately
into the question he had at heart.
" Now, General, I wish to ask you plainly why you
have treated me as you have since I asked you for your
daughter's hand ? "
356 The Leopard's Spots
" The less said about it, the better. I have good and
sufficient reasons, and that settles it."
" But I have the right to know them."
"What right?"
" The right of every man to face his accuser when on
trial for his life."
" Bah ! men don't die nowadays for love, or women
either/' the General growled.
" Besides," continued Gaston, " you are under the deep-
est obligations to tell me fairly your reasons."
"Obligations?"
" The obligations of the commonest justice between
man and man. You invited me to your home. I was
your welcome guest. You encouraged my suit for your
daughter's hand."
" How dare you say such a thing, sir ! "
" Because she told me you did. I was led to believe
that you not only looked with favour on my suit, but
that you were pleased with it. I asked for your daughter.
You insulted my manhood by refusing me permission
even to seek an interview, and know the reasons for your
change of views. Since then you have treated me with
plain brutality. Now something caused this change."
" Certainly something caused it, something of tremen-
dous importance," said the General.
" I am entitled to know what it is."
" Simply this. I received information concerning you,
your habits, your associates, your character, and your
family, that caused me to change my mind."
" Did you inquire as to their truth ? "
" It was unnecessary. I love my daughter beyond all
other treasures I possess. With her future I will take
no risks."
" I have the right to know the charges, General," in-
sisted Gaston. " I demand it."
Face to Face with Fate 337
" Well, sir, if you demand it, you will get it. I learned
that you are a man of the most dissolute habits and char-
acter, that you are a hard drinker, a gambler, a rake and
a spendthrift, and that your family's history is a deplor-
able one."
" My family history a deplorable one ! " cried Gaston,
springing to his feet, with trembling clinched fists and
scarlet face on which the blue veins suddenly stood out.
" I begged you to spare me and yourself the pain of
this," replied the General in a softer voice.
" No, I do not ask to be spared. Give me the particu-
lars. What is the stain on my family name? "
" Not a moral one, but in some respects more hopeless,
a physical one. I have positive information that your
people on one side are what is known in the South as
poor white trash — "
Gaston smiled. " I thank you, General, for your frank-
ness. The only wrong of which I complain, is your with-
holding the name of the liar."
" There is no use of a fight over such things. I do not
wish my daughter's name to be smirched with it."
" Her name is as dear to me as it can possibly be to
you. Never fear. You are her father, I honour you as
such. I thank you for the information. I scorn to stoop
to answer. The humour of it forbids an answer if
I could stoop to make one. Now, General, I make you
this proposition. I am not in a hurry. I will patiently
wait any time you see fit to set for any developments in
my life and character about which you have doubts. All
I ask is the privilege of writing to the woman I love. Is
not this reasonable ? "
" No, sir," declared the General, " I will not have it.
You are not in a position to make me a proposition of
any sort. I have settled this affair. It is not open for
discussion/*
3 $8 The Leopard 's Spots
" You mean to say that I have no standing whatever it
the case ? " asked Gaston with a smile, rubbing his hand
over his smooth shaved lips and chin.
" Exactly. I've settled it. There's nothing more to
be said."
" I'll never give her up. She is the one woman God
made for me, and you will have to put me under the
ground before you have settled my end of it," said Gas-
ton still smiling.
The old man's face clouded for a moment, he wrinkled
his brow, drew his bushy eyebrows closer and then turned
toward Gaston in a persuasive way.
" Look here, Gaston, don't be a fool. It's amusing to
me to hear a youngster talk such drivel. Love is not a
fatal disease for a man, or a woman. You will find that
out later if you don't know it now. I loved a half dozen
girls, and when I got ready to marry, I asked the one
handiest, and that seemed most suited to my temper. We
married and have lived as happily as the romancers. The
world is full of pretty girls. Go on about your business,
and quit bothering me and mine."
" There's only one girl for me, General ! "
" That's proof positive to my mind that you are a little
cracked ! " he answered with a smile.
Gaston laughed and shook his head. " I'll never give
her up in this world, or the next," he doggedly added.
Again the General frowned. " Look here, young man,
did it ever occur to you that your pursuit might be held
the work of a low adventurer? My daughter is an heir-
ess. You haven't a dollar. Don't you know that I will
disinherit her if she marries without my consent ? "
" You can't frighten me on that tack," answered
Gaston firmly. " No dollar mark has yet been placed
on the doors of Southern society. Manhood, character
and achievement are the keys that unlock it. You know
Face to Face with Fate 359
that, and I i :now it. I was poorer and more obscure the
day you first invited me here than to-day. And yet you
gave me as hearty a welcome as her richest suitor. All
I a'sk is time to prove to you in my life my manhood and
worth, — one year, two years, five years, ten years, any
time you see fit to name/' *
" "No, sir," firmly snapped the General, " not a day. I
don't like long engagements,, Yours is ended, once and
for all time. I have settled that"
" Can even a father decide the destiny of two immortal
souls off hand like that ? "
" Now, you are assuming too much. I am not speak
ing for myself alone. I have laid all the facts carefully
before Sallie, and she has agreed to the wisdom of my
decision, and asked me to represent her in what I say
this evening."
Gaston turned pale, his lips quivered, and turning to
the General suddenly, he said,
" That is the only important fact you have laid before
me. Just let her come here, stand by your side and
say that with her own lips, and I will never cross your
path in life again."
The General hung his head and stammered, " No, it is
not necessary. It will embarrass and humiliate her. I
will not permit it."
" Then I deny your credentials ! " exclaimed Gaston.
The General seemed embarrassed by the failure of this
fatherly subterfuge, and Gaston could not help smiling
at the revelation of his weakness. He decided to press
his advantage and try to see her if only for a mo-
ment
" General," protested Gaston persuasively, " I appeal to
your sense of courtesy, even to an enemy. After all that
has passed between us in this house, is it fair or courteous
to show me that door without one word of farewell to
360 The Leopard's Spots
the woman to whom I have given my life ? Or is it wise
from your point of view ? "
Again the General hesitated. He was a big-hearted
man of generous impulses, and he felt worsted in this in-
terview somehow, but it was hard to deny such a request.
He fumbkd at his watch chain, arose, and said,
" I will see if she desires it."
Gaston's heart bounded with joy! If she desired it I
He could feel her soul enveloping him with its love as
he sat there conscious that she was somewhere in that
house praying for him 1
He fairly choked with the pain and the joy of the cer-
tainty that in a moment he would be near her, touch her
hand, see her glorious beauty and his ears drink the music
of her voicea
" Just step this way," said the General, re-appearing at
the door,
Gaston walked into the hall and met Sallie as she
emerged from the library door opposite. He tried to say
something, but his throat was dry and his tongue para-
lysed with the wonder of her presence ! Besides, the Gen-
eral stood grimly by like a guard over a life prisoner.
He looked searchingly into her eyes as he held her
hand for a moment and felt its warm impulsive pressure.
Oh! the eyes of the woman we love! What are words
to their language of melting tenderness, of faith and
longing. Gaston felt like shouting in the General's face
his triumph. She tried to speak, but only pressed his
hand again. It was enough.
He bowed to the General, and left without a word.
CHAPTER III
A WHITE LIB
THAT night as he walked back through the streets
he was thrilled with a sense of strength and of
triumph. He knew his ground now. There was
to be war between him and the General to the bitter end.
He had never asked her once to oppose her father's or
mother's command. Now he would see who was master
in a test of strength. And he was eager for the struggle,,
His mind was alert, and every nerve and muscle tense
with energy.
" Heavens, how hungry I am I " he exclaimed when he
reached the brilliantly lighted business portion of the city»
He went into a restaurant, ordered a steak, and enjoyed
a good meal. He recalled then that he had not eaten
for twenty-four hours. The steak was good, and the
faces of the people seemed to him lit with gladness.
He was singing a battle song in his soul, and the eyes of
the woman he loved looked at him with yearning tender-
ness.
" Now, Bob, I count on you," he cried to his friend
next morning. " I am going to have a merry Christmas
and you are to aid in the skirmishing."
" I'm with you to the finish ! " Bob responded with
enthusiasm.
" We must make a feint this morning to deceive the
enemy while I turn his flank. I go home on the nine
o'clock train. You understand ? "
362 The Leopard's Spots
" Yes, over the left. It's dead easy too. There's to be
a big Christmas party to-night at the Alexanders'. She's
invited. I'll see that she goes to it if I have to drag
her/'
" Good. Don't tell her I'm in town. I want to sur-
prise her0"
The General had a man at the morning train who re-
ported Gaston's departure. He was surprised at Sallie's
good spirits but attributed it to the magnificent present
he had given her that morning of a diamond ring and
an exquisite pearl necklace.
He bustled her off to the party that night and con-
gratulated himself on the certainty of his triumph over
an aspiring youngster who dared to set his will against
his own.
When the festivities had begun, and the children were
busy with their fireworks, Sallie strolled along the wind-
ing walks of the big lawn» She was chatting with Bob
St. Clare about a young man they both knew, and
when they reached the corner furthest from the house,
under the shadows of a great magnolia with low over-
hanging boughs she saw the figure of a man.
She smiled into Bob's face, pressed his hand and said,
" Now, Bob you've done all a good friend could do.
Go back. I don't need you."
And Bob answered with a smile and left her. In a
moment Gaston was by her side with both her hands in
his kissing them tenderly,
" Didn't I surprise you, dear ? " he softly asked.
" No. Bob denied you were here, but I knew he was
a story. I was sure you would never leave with-
out seeing me. You couldn't, could you ? "
" Not after what I saw in your eyes last night f " he
whispered.
" It seems a century since I've heard your voice/' she
A White Lie 363
said wistfully. " God alone knows what I have suffered,
and I am growing weary of it."
" Do you think I have been treated fairly? " he asked.
" No, I do not"
" Then you will write to me? "
" Yes. I will not starve my heart any longer." And
she pressed his hand.
" You have made the world glorious again ! When will
you marry me, Sallie ? " he bent his face close to her,
and for an answer she tenderly kissed him.
They stood in silence a moment with clasped hands,
and then she said slowly, " You didn't want your free-
dom did you, dear ? That's the third kiss, isn't it ? I won-
der if kissing will be always as sweet! But you asked
me when we can marry ? I can't tell now. I can do noth-
ing to shock Mama. She seems to draw closer and closer
to me every day. And now that I have determined no
power shall separate us, it seems more and more neces-
sary that I shall win Papa's consent. He loves me dearly.
I feel that I must have his blessing on our lives. Give me
time. I hope to win him.''
"And you will never let another week pass without
writing to me ? "
" Never. Send my letters to Bob. He loves you better
than he ever thought he loved me. He will give them
to me on Sundays at church, and when he calls,"
For two hours the kindly mantle of the magnolia
sheltered them while they told the old sweet story over
and over again. And somehow that night it seemed to
them sweeter each time it was told.
CHAPTER IV!
THE UNSPOKEN TERROR
WHEN Gaston reached Hambright the following
day, and whispered to his mother the good
news, he hastened to tell his friend Tom Camp.
The young man's heart warmed toward the white-haired
old soldier in this hour of his victory. With sparkling
eyes, he told Tom of his stormy scene with the General,
of its curious ending, and the hours he spent in heaven
beneath the limbs of an old magnolia.
Tom listened with rapture. " Ah, didn't I tell you, if
you hung on you'd get her by-and-by? So you bearded
the General in his den did you? I'll bet his eyes blazed
when he seed you ! He's got an awful temper when you
rile him. You ought to a seed him one day when our
brigade was ordered into a charge where three concealed
batteries was cross firin' and men was fallin' like wheat
under the knife. Geeminy but didn't he cuss! He
wouldn't take the order fust from the orderly, and sent
to know if the Major-General meant it. I tell you us
fellers that was layin' there in the grass listenin' to them
bullets singin' thought he was the finest cusser that ever
ripped an oath.
" He reared and he charged, and he cussed, and he
damned that man for tryin' to butcher his men, and he
never moved till the third order came. That was the
night ten thousand wounded men lay on the field, and
me in the middle of 'em with a Minie ball in my shoul-
364
TOM CAMP.
The .Unspoken Terror 365
der. The Yankees and our men was all mixed up to-
gether, and just after dark the full moon came up tlirough
the trees and you could see as plain as day. I begun to
sing the old hymn, " There is a land of pure delight,"
and you ought to have heard them ten thousand wounded
men sing!
" While we was singing the General came through
lookin' up his men. He seed me and said,
"Is that you, Tom Camp?"
" I looked up at him, and he was crying like a child, and
he went on from man to man cryin' and cussin the fool
that sent us into that hell-hole. The General's a rough
man, if you rub his fur the wrong way, but his heart's
all right. He's all gold I tell you ! "
" Well, I'm in for a tussle with him, Tom."
" Shucks, man, you can beat him with one hand tied
behind you if you've got his gal's heart. She's got his
fire, and a gal as purty as she is can just about do what'
she pleases in this world."
" I hope she can bring him around. I like the General.
I'd much rather not fight him."
" Where's Flora ? " cried Tom looking around in
alarm.
" I saw her going toward the spring in the edge of
the woods there a minute ago," replied Gaston.
Tom sprang up and began to hop and jump down the
path toward the spring with incredible rapidity.
Flora was playing in the branch below the spring and
Tom saw the form of a negro man passing over the op-
posite hill going along the spring path that led in that
direction.
" Was you talkin' with that nigger, Flora ? " asked
Tom holding his hand on his side and trying to recover
his breath.
" Yes, I said howdy, when he stopped to get a drink
366 The Leopard's Spots
of water, and he give me a whistle," she replied with
a pout of her pretty lips and a frown.
Tom seized her by the arm and shook her. " Didn't
I tell you to run every time you seed a nigger unless I
was with you ! "
" Yes, but he wasn't hurtin' me and you are ! " she
cried bursting into tears.
" I've a notion to whip you good for this ! " Tom
stormed.
"Don't Tom, she won't do it any more, will you
Flora ? " pleaded Gaston taking her in his arms and
starting to the house with her. When they reached the
house, Tom was still pale and trembling with excite-
ment.
"Lord, there's so many triflin' niggers loafin' round
the county now stealing and doin' all sorts of devilment,
I'm scared to death about that child. She don't seem
any more afraid of 'em than she is of a cat."
" I don't believe anybody would hurt Flora, Tom, —
she's such a little angel," said Gaston kissing the tears
from the child's face.
" She is cute — ain't she ? " said Tom with pride. " I've
wished many a time lately I'd gone out West with them
Yankee fellers that took such a likin' to me in the war.
They told me that a poor white man had a chance out
there, and that there wern't a nigger in twenty miles of
their home. But then I lost my leg, how could I
go?"
He sat dreaming with open eyes for a moment and con-
tinued, looking tenderly at Flora, " But, baby, don't you
dare go nigh er nigger, or let one get nigh you no more
'n you would a rattlesnake ! "
" I won't Pappy ! " she cried with an incredulous smile
at his warning of danger that made Tom's heart sick.
She was all joy and laughter, full of health and bubbling
The Unspoken Terror 367
life. She believed with a child's simple faith that all
nature was as innocent as her own heart.
Tom smoothed her curls and kissed her at last, and she
slipped her arm around his neck and squeezed it tight.
" Ain't she purty and sweet now ? " he exclaimed.
" Tom, you'll spoil her yet," warned Gaston as he smiled
and took his leave, throwing a kiss to Flora as he passed
through the little yard gate. Tom had built a fence close
around his house when Flora was a baby to shut her in
while he was at work.
Two days later about five o'clock in the afternoon as
Gaston sat in his office writing a letter to his sweetheart,
his face aglow with love and the certainty that she was
his, as he read and re-read her last glowing words he was
startled by the sudden clang of the court house bell. At
first he did not move, only looking up from his paper.
Sometimes mischievous boys rang the bell and ran down
the steps before any one could catch them. But the bell
continued its swift stroke seeming to grow louder and
wilder every moment. He saw a man rush across the
square, and then the bell of the Methodist, and then of
the Baptist churches joined their clamour to the alarm.
He snapped the lid of his desk, snatched his hat and
ran down the steps.
As he reached the street, he heard the long piercing
cry of a woman's voice, high, strenuous, quivering!
" A lost child ! A lost 'child ! "
What a cry! He was never so thrilled and awed by
a human voice. In it was trembling all the anguish of
every mother's broken heart transmitted through the cen-
turies !
At the court house door an excited group had gathered.
A man was standing on the steps gesticulating wildly and
telling the crowd all he knew about it. Over the din he
caught the name,
368 The Leopard's Spots
"Tom Camp's Flora!"
He breathed hard, bit his lips, and prayed instinctively.
" Lord have mercy on the poor old man ! It will kill
him ! " A great fear brooded over the hearts of the
crowd, and soon the tumult was hushed into an awed
silence.
In Gaston's heart that fear became a horrible certainty
from the first. Within a half hour a thousand white
people were in the crowd. Gaston stood among them,
cool and masterful, organising them in searching parties,
and giving to each group the signals to be used.
In a moment the white race had fused into a homogene-
ous mass of love, sympathy, hate, and revenge. The rich
and the poor, the learned and the ignorant, the banker
and the blacksmith, the great and the small, they were all
one now. The sorrow of that old one-legged soldier was
the sorrow of all, every heart beat with his, and his life
was their life, and his child their child.
But at the end of an hour there was not a negro among
them! By some subtle instinct they had recognised the
secret feelings and fears of the crowd and had dis-
appeared. Had they been beasts of the field the gulf
between them would not have been deeper.
When Gaston reached Tom's house the crowd was di-
vided into the groups agreed upon and a signal gun given
to each. If the child was not dead when found two
should be fired — if dead, but one.
He sought Tom to be sure there was no mistake and
that the child had not fallen asleep about the house. He
found the old man shut up in his room kneeling in the
middle of the floor praying.
When Gaston laid his hand gently on his shoulder his
lips ceased to move, and he looked at him in a dazed sort
of way at first without speakingo
"Oh I—it's you, Charlie!" he sighed.
The Unspoken Terror 369
" Yes, Tom, tell me quick. Are you sure she is no-
where in the house ? "
"Sure!— Sure?" he cried in a helpless stare. "Yes,
yes, I found her bonnet at the spring. I looked every-
where for an hour before I called the neighbours ! "
" Then I'm off with the searchers. The signal is two
guns if they find her alive. One gun if she is dead. You
will understand."
" Yes, Charlie," answered the old soldier in a faraway
tone of voice, " and don't forget to help me pray while
you look for her."
" I've tried already, Tom," he answered as he pressed
his hand and left the house. All night long the search
continued, and no signal gun was heard. Torches and
lanterns gleamed from every field and wood, byway and
hedge for miles in every direction.
Through every hour of this awful night Tom Camp
was in his room praying — his face now streaming with
tears, now dry and white with the unspoken terror that
could stop the beat of his heart. His white hair and
snow-white beard were dishevelled, as he unconsciously
tore them with his trembling hands. Now he was crying
in an agony of intensity,
" As thy servant of old wrestled with the angel of the
Lord through the night, so, oh God, will I lie at Thy feet
and wrestle and pray ! I will not let Thee go until Thou
bless me ! Though I perish, let her live ! I have lost all
and praised Thee still. Lord, Thou canst not leave me
desolate!"
From the pain of his wound and the exhaustion of soul
and body he fainted once with his lips still moving in
prayer. For more than an hour he lay as one dead.
When he revived, he looked at his clock and it was but
an hour till dawn.
Again he fell on his knees, and again the broken ac-
370 The Leopard's Spots
cents of his husky voice could be heard wrestling with
God. Now he would beg and plead like a child, and
then he would rise in the unconscious dignity of an
immortal soul in combat with the powers of the infinite
and his language was in the sublime speech of the old
Hebrew seers !
Just before the sun rose the signal gun pealed its mes-
sage of life, ONE ! TWO ! in rapid succession.
Tom sprang to his feet with blazing eyes. One! Two!
echoed the guns from another hill, and fainter grew its
repeated call from group to group of the searchers.
" There ! Glory to God ! " He screamed at the top
of his voice, the last note of his triumphant shout break-
ing into sobs. " God be praised ! I knew they would
find her — she's not dead, she's alive! alive! oh! my soul,
lift up thy head ! "
The tramp of swift feet was heard at the door and
Gaston told him with husky stammering voice,
" She's alive • Tom, but unconscious. I'll have her
brought to the house. She was found just where your
spring branch runs into the Flat Rock, not five hundred
yards from here in those woods. Stay where you are.
We will bring her in a minute."
Gaston bounded back to the scene.
Tom paid no attention to his orders to stay at home,
but sprang after him jumping and falling and scrambling
up again as he followed. Before they knew it he was
upon the excited tearful group that stood in a circle
around the child's body.
Gaston, who was standing on the opposite side from
Tom's approach, saw him and shouted,
" My God, men, stop him ! Don't let him see her yet ! "
But Tom was too quick for them. He brushed aside
the boy who caught at him, as though a feather, crying,
44 Stand back!"
The Unspoken Terror 371
The circle of men fell away from the body and in a
moment Tom stood over it transfixed with horror.
Flora lay on the ground with her clothes torn to shreds
and stained with blood. Her beautiful yellow curls were
matted across her forehead in a dark red lump beside a
wound where her skull had been crushed. The stone lay
at her side, the crimson mark of her life showing on its
jagged edges.
With that stone the brute had tried to strike the death
blow. She was lying on the edge of the hill with her
head up the incline. It was too plain, the terrible crime
that had been committed.
The poor father sank beside her body with an inarticu-
late groan as though some one had crushed his head with
an axe. He seemed dazed for a moment, and looking
around he shouted hoarsely,
"The doctor boys! The doctor quick! For God's
sake, quick! She's not dead yet — we may save her —
help — help ! " he sank again to the ground limp and faint
from pain and was soon insensible.
Gaston gathered the child tenderly in his arms and
carried her to the house. The men hastily made a
stretcher and carried Tom behind him.
CHAPTER V
A THOUSAND-LEGGED BEAST
WHILE Gaston and the men were carrying Flora
and Tom to the house, another searching
party was formed. There were no women
and children among them, only grim-visaged silent men,
and a pair of little mild-eyed sharp-nosed blood-hounds.
All the morning men were coming in from the country
and joining this silent army of searchers.
Doctor Graham came, looked long and gravely at Flora
and turned a sad face toward Tom.
The olc soldier grasped his arm before he spoke.
"Now, doctor wait — don't say a word yet. I don't
want to know the truth, if it's the worst. Don't kill me
in a minute. Let me live as long as there's breath in her
body — after that! well, that's the end — there's nothin'
after that ! "
The doctor started to speak.
"Wait," pleaded Tom, "let me tell you something.
I've been praying all night . I've seen God face to face.
She can't die. He told me so — "
He paused and his grip on the doctor's arm relaxed as
though he were about to faint, but he rallied.
The kindly old doctor said gently, " Sit down
Tom."
He tried to lead Tom away from the bed, but he held
on like a bull dog.
The child breathed heavily and moaned.
A Thousand-Legged Beast 373
Tom's face brightened. " She's comin' to, doctor, —
thank God!"
The doctor paid no more attention to him and went on
with his work as best he could.
Tom laid his tear-stained face close to hers, and mur-
mured soothingly to her as he used to when she was a
wee baby in his arms,
" There, there, honey, it will be all right now ! The
doctor's here, and he'll do all he can ! And what he can't
do, God will. The doctor'll save you. God will save you !
He loves you. He loves me. I prayed all night. He
heard me. I saw the shinin' glory of His facet He's
only tryin' His poor old servant."
The broken artery was found and tied and the bleed-
ing stopped. When the wound in her head was dressed
the doctor turned to Tom,
" That wound is bad, but not necessarily fatal."
"Praise God!"
" Keep the house quiet and don't let her see a strange
face when she regains consciousness," was his parting
injunction.
The next morning her breathing was regular, and pulse
stronger, but feverish; and about seven o'clock she came
out of her comatose state and regained consciousness.
She spoke but once, and apparently at the sound of her
own voice immediately went into a convulsion, clinching
her little fists, screaming and calling to her father for
help!
When Tom first heard that awful cry and saw her terri-
fied eyes and drawn face, he tried to cover his own eyes
and stop his ears. Then he gathered the little convulsed
body into his arms and crooned into her ears,
" There, Pappy's baby, don't cry ! Pappy's got you
now . Nothin' can hurt you . There, there, nothin' shall
come nigh you ! "
374 The Leopard's Spots
He covered her face with tears and kisses while he
whispered and soothed her to sleep. When the noon train
came up from Independence, General Worth arrived.
Tom had asked Gaston to telegraph for him in his name.
Tom eagerly grasped his hand. " General I knowed
you'd come — you're a man to tie to. I never knowed
you to fail me in your life. You're one of the smartest
men in the world too. You never got us boys in a hole
so deep you didn't pull us out" —
" What can I do for you ? " interrupted the General.
" Ah, now's the worst of all, General. I'm in water
too deep for me. My baby, the last one left on earth, the
apple of my eye, all that holds my old achin' body to this
world — she's — about — to — die ! I can't let her * General,
you must save her for me . I want more doctors. They
say there's a great doctor at Independence. I want 'em
all. Tell 'em it's a poor old one-legged soldier who's shot
all to pieces and lost his wife and all his children — all
but this one baby. And I can't lose her! They'll come
if you ask 'em — "' His voice broke.
" I'll do it, Tom. I'll have them here on a special in
three hours or maybe sooner," returned the General press-
ing his hand and hurrying to the telegraph office.
The doctors arrived at three o'clock and held a consul-
tation with Doctor Graham. They decided that the loss
of blood had been so great that the only chance to save
her was in the transfusion of blood.
"I'll give her the blood, Tom," said Gaston quietly
removing his coat and baring his arm.
The old soldier looked up through grateful tears.
" Next to the General, you're the best friend God ever
give me, boy ! "
The General turned his face away and looked out of
the window. The doctors immediately performed the
operation, transfusing blood from Gaston into the child.
A Thousand- Legged Beast 375
The results did not seem to promise what they had hoped.
Her fever rose steadily. She became conscious again and
immediately went into the most fearful convulsions,
breaking the torn artery a second time.
Just as the sun sank behind the blue mountains peaks
in the west, her heart fluttered and she was dead.
Tom sat by the bed for two hours, looking, looking,
looking with wide staring eyes at her white dead face.
There was not the trace of a tear. His mouth was set
in a hard cold way and he never moyed or spoke.
The Preacher tried to comfort Tom, who stared at him
as though he did not recognise him at first, and then
slowly began,
" Go away, Preacher, I don't want to see or talk to you
now. It's all a swindle and a lie. There is no God ! "
" Tom, Tom ! " groaned the Preacher.
" I tell you I mean it," he continued. " I don't want
any more of God or His heaven. I don't want to see
God. For if I should see Him, I'd shake my fist in His
face and ask Him where His almighty power was when
my poor little baby was screamm' for help while that
damned black beast was tearin' her to pieces! Many
and many a time I've praised God when I read the Bible
there where it said, not a sparrow falleth to the ground
without His knowledge, and the very hairs of our head
are numbered. Well, where was He when my little bird
was flutterin' her broken bleedin' wings in the claws of
that stinkin' baboon, — damn him to everlastin' hell ! — It's
all a swindle I tell you ! "
The Preacher was watching him now with silent pity
and tenderness.
" What a lie it all is ! " Tom repeated. " Scratch my
name off the church roll. I ain't got many more days
here, but I won't lie. I'm not a hypocrite. I'm going to
meet God cursin' Him to His face ! "
376 The Leopard's Spots
The Preacher slipped his arm around the old soldiers
neck, and smoothed the tangled hair back from his fore-
head as he said brokenly,
" Tom, I love you ! My whole soul is melted in sym-
pathy and pity for you ! "
The stricken man looked up into the face of his friend,
saw his tears and felt the warmth of his love flood his
heart, and at last he burst into tears.
" Oh ! Preacher, Preacher ! you're a good friend I know,
but I'm done, I -can't live any more! Every minute, day
and night, I'll hear them awful screams — her a callin'
me for help ! I can see her lyin' out there in the woods
all night alone moanin' and bleedin' ! "
His breast heaved and he paused as if in reverie. And
then he sprang up, his face livid and convulsed with vol-
canic passions, that half strangled him while he shrieked,
" Oh ! if I only had him here before me now, and God
Almighty would give me strength with these hands to
tear his breast open and rip his heart out! — 1 — could —
eat— it— like— a— wolf ! "
When they reached the cemetery the next day and the
body was about to be lowered into the grave, Tom sud-
denly spied old Uncle Reuben Worth leaning on his
spade by the edge of the crowd. Uncle Reuben was the
grave digger of the town and the only negro present.
" Wait ! " said Tom raising his hand. " Don't put her
in that grave! A nigger dug it. I can't stand it." He
turned to a group of old soldier comrades standing by
and said,
" Boys, humour an old broken man once more. You'll
dig another grave for me, won't you ? It won't take long.
The folks can go home that don't want to stay. I ain't
got no home to go to now but this graveyard."
A Thousand-Legged Beast 377
His comrades filled up the grave that Uncle Reuben
had dug, and opened a new one on the other side of the
graves where slept, his other loved ones.
Gaston took Tom to his home and stayed with him
several hours trying to help him. He seemed to have
settled into a stupor from which nothing could rouse
him. When at length the old man fell asleep, Gaston
softly closed the door and returned to his office with a
heavy heart.
As he neared the centre of the town, he heard a
murmur like the distant moaning of the wind in the
hush that comes before a storm. It grew louder and
louder and became articulate with occasional words that
seemed far away and unreal. What could it be? He had
never heard such a sound before. Now it became clearer
and the murmur was the tread of a thousand feet and
the clatter of horses' hoofs. Not a cry, or a shout, or a
word. Silence and hurrying feet!
Ah! he knew now. It was the searchers returning, a
grim swaying voiceless mob with one black figure amid
them. They were swarming into the court house square
under the big oak where an informal trial was to be
held.
He rushed forward to protest against a lynching. He
could just catch a glimpse of the negro's head swaying
back and forth, protesting innocence in a singing mono-
tone as though he were already half dead.
He pushed his way roughly through the excited crowd,
to the centre where Hose Norman, the leader, stood with
one end of a rope in his hand and the other around the
negro's neck.
The negro turned his head quickly toward the move-
ment made by the crowd as Gaston pressed forward.
It was Dick !
Dick recognised him at the same moment, leaped to-
378 The Leopard's Spots
ward him and fell at his feet crying and pleading as he
held his feet and legs.
" Save me, Charlie ! I nebber done it ! I nebber done
it ! For God's sake help me ! Keep 'em off ! Dey gwine
burn me erlive ! "
Gaston turned to the crowd. " Men, there's not one
among you that loved that old soldier and his girl as I
did. But you must not do this crime. If this negro is
guilty, we can prove it in that court house there, and
he will pay the penalty with his life. Give him a fair
trial "—
" That's a lawyer talkin' now ! " said a man in the
crowd. " We know that tune. The lawyers has things
their own way in a court house." A murmur of assent
mingled with oaths ran through the crowd.
" Fair trial ! " sneered Hose Norman snatching Dick
from the ground by the rope. " Look at the black devil's
clothes splotched all over with her blood. We found him
under a shelvin' rock where he'd got by wadin' up the
branch a quarter of a mile to fool the dogs. We found
his track in the sand some places where he missed the
water and tracked him clear from where we found Flora
to the cave he was lying in. Fair trial — hell ! We're just
waitin' for er can o' oil. You go back and read your
law books — we'll tend ter this devil."
The messenger came with the oil and the crowd moved
forward. Hose shouted, " Down by Tom Camp's by his
spring, down the spring branch to the Flat Rock where he
killed her!"
On the crowd moved, swaying back and forth with
Gaston in their midst by Dick's side begging for a fair
trial for him. A crowd that hurries and does not shout
is a fearful thing. There is something inhuman in its
uncanny silence.
Gaston's voice sounded strained and discordant. They
A Thousand-Legged Beast 379
paid no more attention to his protest than to the chirp
of a cricket.
They reached the spot where the child's body had been
found. They tied the screaming, praying negro to a live
pine and piled around his body a great heap of dead
wood and saturated it with oil. And then they poured
oil on his clothes.
Gaston looked around him begging first one man then
another to help him fight the crowd and rescue him.
Not a hand was lifted, or a voice raised in protest. There
was not a negro among them. Not only was no negro
in that crowd, but there was not a cabin in all that
county that would not have given shelter to the brute,
though they knew him guilty of the crime charged against
him. This was the one terrible fact that paralysed Gas-
ton's efforts.
Hose Norman stepped forward to apply a match and
Gaston grasped his arm.
" For God's sake, Hose, wait a minute ! " he begged.
" Don't disgrace our town, our county, our state, and
our claims to humanity by this insane brutality . A« beast
wouldn't do this. You wouldn't kill a mad dog or a
rattlesnake in such a way. If you will kill him, shoot
him or knock him in the head with a rock, — don't burn
him alive ! "
Hose glared at him and quietly remarked,
" Are you done now ? If you are, stand out of the
way!"
He struck the match and Dick uttered a scream. As
Hose leaned forward with his match Gaston knocked
him down, and a dozen stalwart men were upon him in
a moment.
" Knock the fool in the head ! " one shouted.
" Pin his arms behind him ! " said another.
Some one quickly pinioned his arms with a cord. He
380 The Leopard's Spots
stood in helpless rage and pity, and as he saw the match
applied, bowed his head and burst into tears.
He looked up at the silent crowd standing there like
voiceless ghosts with renewed wonder.
Under the glare of the light and the tears the crowd
seemed to melt into a great crawling swaying creature,
half reptile half beast, half dragon half man, with a thou-
sand legs, and a thousand eyes, and ten thousand gleam-
ing teeth, and with no ear to hear and no heart to pity !
All they would grant him was the privilege of gather-
ing Dick's ashes and charred bones for burial.
The morning following the lynching, the Preacher hur-
ried to Tom Camp's to see how he was bearing the
strain.
His door was wide open, the bureau drawers pulled
out, ransacked, and some of their contents were lying
on the floor.
" Poor old fellow, I'm afraid he's gone crazy ! " ex-
claimed the Preacher. He hurried to the cemetery. There
he found Tom at the newly made grave. He had worked
through the night and dug the grave open with his bare
hands and pulled the coffin up out of the ground. He
had broken his finger nails all off trying to open it and
his fingers were bleeding. At last he had given up the
effort to open the coffin, sat down beside it, and was ar-
ranging her toys he had made for her beside the box.
He had brought a lot of her clothes, a pair of little shoes
and stockings, and a bonnet, and he had placed these out
carefully on top of the lid. He was talking to her.
The Preacher lifted him gently and led him away, a
hopeless madman.
CHAPTER VI
THE BLACK PERIL
THE longer Gaston pondered over the tragic events
of that lynching the more sinister and terrible
became its meaning, and the deeper he was
plunged in melancholy.
Beyond all doubt, within his own memory, since the
negroes under Legree's lead had drawn the colour line
in politics, the races had been drifting steadily apart. The
gulf was now impassable.
Such crimes as Dick had committed, and for which he
had paid such an awful penalty, were unknown abso-
lutely under slavery, and were unknown for two years
after the war. Their first appearance was under Le-
gree's regime. Now, scarcely a day passed in the South
without the record of such an atrocity, swiftly followed
by a lynching, and lynching thus had become a habit for
all grave crimes.
Since McLeod's triumph in the state such crimes had
increased with alarming rapidity. The encroachments of
negroes upon public offices had been slow but resistless.
Now there were nine hundred and fifty negro magistrates
in the state elected for no reason except the colour of
their skin. Feeling themselves intrenched behind state
and Federal power, the insolence of a class of young
negro men was becoming more and more intolerable.
What would happen to these fools when once they roused
that thousand-legged, thousand-eyed beast with its ten
381
382 The Leopard's Spots
thousand teeth and nails! He had looked into its face,
and he shuddered to recall the hour.
He knew that this power of racial fury of the Anglo-
Saxon when aroused was resistless, and that it would
sweep its victims before its wrath like chaff before a
whirlwind.
And then he thought of the day fast coming when cul-
ture and wealth would give the African the courage of
conscious strength and he would answer that soul pierc-
ing shriek of his kindred for help, and that other thou-
sand-legged beast, now crouching in the shadows, would
meet thousand-legged beast around that beacon fire of a
Godless revenge!
More and more the impossible position of the Negro
in America came home to his mind. He was fast being
overwhelmed with the conviction that sooner or later we
must squarely face the fact that two such races, counting
millions in numbers, can not live together under a
Democracy.
He recalled the fact that there were more negroes in the
United States than inhabitants in Mexico, the third re-
public of the world.
Amalgamation simply meant Africanisation. The big
nostrils, flat nose, massive jaw, protruding lip and kinky
hair will register their animal marks over the proudest
intellect and the rarest beauty of any other race. The
rule that had no exception was that one drop of Negro
blood makes a negro.
What could be the outcome of it ? What was his duty
as a citizen and a member of civilised society ? Since the
scenes through which he had passed with Tom Camp and
that mob the question was insistent and personal. It
clouded his soul and weighed on him like the horrors of
a nightmare.
Again and agam the fateful words the Preacher had
The Black Peal 383
dinned into his ears since childhood pressed upon
him,
" You can not build in a Democracy a nation inside
a nation of two antagonistic races. The future American
must be an Anglo-Saxon or a Mulatto."
His depression and brooding over the fearful events
in which he had so recently taken part had tinged his
life and all its hopes with sadness. He had re-
flected this in his letters to Sallie Worth without even
mentioning the events. His heart was full of sickening
foreboding. How could one love and be happy in a
world haunted by such horrors! He had begged her to
hasten her hour of final decision. He told her of his
sense of loneliness and isolation, and of his inexpressible
need of her love and presence in his daily life.
Her answer had only intensified his moody feelings.
She had written that her love grew stronger every day
and his love more and more became necessary to her life,
and yet she could not cloud its future with the anger of
her father and the broken heart of her mother by an
elopement. She feared such a shock would be fatal and
all her life would be embittered by it. They must wait.
She was using all her skill to win her father, but as yet
without success. But she determined to win him, and it
would be so.
All this seemed so far away and shadowy to Gaston's
eager restless soul.
The letter had closed by saying she was preparing for
another trip to Boston to visit Helen Lowell and that
she should be absent at least a month. She asked that his
next letter be addressed to Boston.
Somehow Boston seemed just then out of the world on
another planet, it was so far away and its people and
their life so unreal to his imagination.
But he sighed and turned resolutely to his work of
384 The Leopard's Spots
preparation for an event in his life which he meant to
make great in the history of the state. It was the meet-
ing of the Democratic convention, as yet nearly two
years in the future. He held a subordinate position in
his party's councils, but defeat and ruin had taken the
conceit out of the old line leaders arid he knew that his
day was drawing near.
" I'll take my place among the leaders and masters of
men/' he told himself with quiet determination, " I
will compel the General's respect; and if I can not wk
his consent, I will take her without it."
CHAPTER VII
EQUALITY WITH A RESERVATION
THE lynching at Hambright had stirred the whole
nation into unusual indignant interest. It hap-
pened to be the climax of a series of such crimes
committed in the South in rapid succession, and the death
of this negro was reported with more than usual vividness
by a young newspaper man of genius.
A grand mass meeting was called in Cooper Union,
New York, at which were gathered delegates from dif-
ferent cities and states to give emphasis and unity to the
movement and issue an appeal to the national govern-
mento
When Sallie Worth reached Boston, she found Helen
Lowell at home alone0 The Hon. Everett Lowell had
made one of the speeches of his career at the mass meet-
ing held in Faneuil Hall, and he was in New York where
he had gone to make the principal address in the Cooper
Union Convention of Negro sympathisers.
George Harris had accompanied him, supremely fas-
cinated by the eloquent and masterful appeal for human
brotherhood he had heard him make in Boston. There
was something pathetic in the dog-like worship this
young negro gave to his brilliant patron. In his life in
New England he had been shocked more than once by
the brutal prejudices of the people against his race. His
soul had been tried to the last of its powers of endurance
at times. He found to his amazement that, when put to
3*5
386 The Leopard's Spots
the test, the masses of the North had even deeper repug-
nance to the person of a Negro than the Southerners who
grew up with him from the cradle. He had found himself
cut off from every honourable way of earning his bread,
gentleman and scholar though he was, and had looked
into the river as he walked over the bridge to Cambridge
one night with a well-nigh resistless impulse to end it all.
But Lowell had cheered him, laughed his gloomy ideas
to scorn, and more practical still, he had secured him a
clerkship in the Custom House which settled the problem
of bread. Others had failed him, but this man of trained
powers had never failed him. He had taught him to lift
up his head and look the world squarely in the face,
Lowell was, to his vivid African imagination, the ideal
man made in the image of God, calm in judgment, free
from all superstitions and prejudices, a citizen of the
world of human thought, a prince of that vast ethical
aristocracy of the free thinkers of all ages who knew no
racial or conventional barriers between man and man.
Harris had published a volume of poems which he had
dedicated to Lowell, and his most inspiring verse was
simply the outpouring of his soul in worship of this ideal
man.
He was his devoted worshipper for another and more
powerful reason. In his daily intercourse with him in
his library during his campaigns he had frequently met
his beautiful daughter, and had fallen deeply and madly
in love with her. This secret passion he had kept hidden
in his sensitive soul. He had worshipped her from afar
as though she had been a white-robed angel. To see her
and be in the same house with her was all he asked. Now
and then he had stood beside the piano and turned the
music while she played and sang one of his new pieces,
and he would live on that scene for months, eating his
heart out with voiceless yearnings he dared not express.
Equality with a Reservation 387
In his music he made his greatest success. There was
a fiery sweep to his passion, and a deep oriental rhythm
in his cadence that held the imagination of his hearers in
a spelL It is needless to say it was in this music he
breathed his secret love.
At first he had not dared to hope for the day when he
could declare this secret or take his place in the list of her
admirers and fight for his chance. But of late, a great
hope had filled his soul and illumined the world. As he
had listened to Lowell's impassioned appeals for human
brotherhood, his scathing ridicule of pride and prejudice,
and the poetic beauty of the language in which he pro-
claimed his own emancipation from all the laws of caste,
the fiery eloquence with which he trampled upon all the
barriers man had erected against his fellow man, his soul
was thrilled into ecstasy with the conviction that this
scholar and scientific thinker, at least, was a free man.
He was sure that he had risen above the limitations of
provincialisms, racial or national prejudices.
He had begun to dream of the day he would ask this
Godlike man for the privilege of addressing his daughter.
The great meeting at Cooper Union had brought this
dream to a sudden resolution Lowell had outdone him-
self that night With, merciless invective he had de-
nounced the inhuman barbarism of the South in these
lynchings, The sea of eager faces had answered his ap-
peals as water the breath of a storm. He felt its mighty
reflex influence sweep back on his soul and lift him to
greater heights. He demanded equality of man on every
inch of this earth's soil .
" I demand this perfect equality," he cried, " absolutely
without reservation or subterfuge, both in form and es-
sential reality. It is the life-blood of Democracy. It is
the reason of our existence. Without this we are a living
lie, a stench in the nostrils of God and humanity ! "
3&8 The Leopard's Spots
A cheer from a thousand negro throats rent the air as
he thus closed. The crowd surged over the platform and
for ten minutes it was impossible to restore order or con-
tinue the programme. Young Harris pressed his pa-
tron's hand and kissed it while tears of pride and grati-
tude rained down his face.
This speech made a national sensationc It was printed
in full in all the partisan papers where it was hoped capi-
tal might be made of it for the next political campaign,
and the National Campaign Committee of which he was a
member ordered a million copies of it printed for distri-
bution among the negroes.
When Lowell and Harris reached Boston, as they
parted at the depot Harris said,
" Will you be at home to-morrow, Mr. Lowell ? "
"Yes, why?"
" I would like a talk with you in the morning on a
matter of grave importance. May I call at nine
o'clock ?'•
" Certainly. Come right into the library. You'll find
me there, George."
That night as Lowell walked through his brilliantly
lighted home, he felt a sense of glowing pride and
strength. With his hands behind him he paced back and
forth in his great library and out through the spacious
hall with firm tread and flushed face. He felt he could
look these great ancestors in the face to-night as they
gazed down on him from their heavy gold frames. They
had called him to high ambitions and a strenuous life
when his indolence had pleaded for ease and the dilettante-
ism of a fruitless dreaming. His father had cultivated
his artistic tastes, dreamed and done nothing. But these
grim-visaged, eagle-eyed ancestors had called him to a
life of realities, and he had heard their voices,
Yes, to-night his name was on a million lips. The
Equality with a Reservation 389
door of the United States Senate was opening at his
touch and mightier possibilities loomed in the future .
He felt a sense of gratitude for the heritage of that
stately old home and its inspiring memories. Its roots
struck down into the soil of a thousand years, and
spread beneath the ocean to that greater old world life.
He felt his heart beat with pride that he was adding new
honours to that family history, and adding to the soul-
treasures his daughter's children would inherit.
Seated in the library next morning Harris was nervous
and embarrassed. He made two or three attempts to
begin the subject but turned aside with some unimportant
remark,
" Well, George, what is the problem that makes you so
grave this morning ? " asked Lowell with kindly patron-
age.
Harris felt that his hour had come, and he must face it.
He leaned forward in his chair and looked steadily down
at the rug, while he clasped both his hands firmly across
his lap and spoke with great rapidity.
" Mr. Lowell, I wish to say to you that you have taught
me the greatest faith of life, faith in my fellow man with-
out which there can be no faith in God. What I have
suffered as a man as I have come in contact with the bru-
tality with which my race is almost universally treated,
God only can ever know.
" The culture I have received has simply multiplied a
thousandfold my capacity to suffer. But for the inspira-
tion of your manhood I would have ended my life in the
river. In you, I saw a great light. I saw a man really
made in the image of God with mind and soul trained,
with head erect, scorning the weak prejudices of caste,
which dare to call the image of God clean or unclean iis
passion or pride.
" I lifted up my head and said, one such man redeems
390 The Leopard's Spots
a world from infamy. It's worth while to live in a world
honoured by one such man, for he is the prophecy of more
to come."
He paused a moment, fidgeted with a piece of paper
he had picked up from the table and seemed at a loss for a
word.
It never dawned on Lowell what he was driving at.
He supposed, as a matter of course, he was referring to
his great speeches and was going to ask for some promo-
tion in a governmental department at Washington.
" I'm proud to have been such an inspiration to you,
George. You know how much I think of you. What is
on your mind ? " he asked at length.
" I have hidden it from every human eye, sir, I am
afraid to breath it aloud alone. I have only tried to sing
it in song in an impersonal way. Your wonderful words
of late have emboldened me to speak. It is this — I am
madly, desperately in love with your daughter."
Lowell sprang to his feet as though a bolt of lightning
had suddenly shot down his backbone. He glared at the
negro with wide dilated eyes and heaving breath as though
he had been transformed into a leopard or tiger and was
about to spring at his throat.
Before answering, and with a gesture commanding
silence, he walked rapidly to the library door and closed
it.
" And I have come to ask you," continued Harris ig-
noring his gesture, " if I may pay my addresses to her
with your consent."
" Harris, this is crazy nonsense. Such an idea is pre-
posterous. I am amazed that it should ever have entered
your head. Let this be the end of it here and now, if you
have any desire to retain my friendship."
Lowell said this with a scowl, and an emphasis of indig-
nant rising inflection. The negro seemed stunned by
Equality witn a Reservation 391
this swift blow in his very teeth, that seemed to place him
outside the pale of a human being.
" Why is such a hope unreasonable, sir, to a man of
your scientific mind ? "
" It is a question of taste," snapped Lowell.
" Am I not a graduate of the same university with you ?
Did I not stand as high, and age for age, am I not your
equal in culture ? "
" Granted. Nevertheless you are a negro, and I do
not desire the infusion of your blood in my family."
" But I have more of white than Negro blood, sir."
" So much the worse. It is the mark of shame."
" But it is the one drop of Negro blood at which your
taste revolts, is it not? "
" To be frank, it is."
" Why is it an unpardonable sin in me that my ances-
tors were born under tropic skies where skin and hair
were tanned and curled to suit the sun's fierce rays ? "
" All tropic races are not negroes, and your race has
characteristics apart from accidents of climate that make
it unique in the annals of man," rejoined Lowell.
" And yet you demand perfect equality of man with
man, absolutely in form and substance without reserva-
tion or subterfuge ! "
" Yes, political equality."
" Politics is but a secondary phenomenon of society.
You said absolute equality," protested Harris.
" The question you broach is a question of taste, and the
deeper social instincts of racial purity and self preserva-
tion. I care not what your culture, or your genius, or
your position, I do not desire, and will not permit, a mix-
ture of Negro blood in my family. The idea is nauseat-
ing, and to my daughter it would be repulsive beyond the
power of words to express it ! "
" And yet," pleaded Harris, " you invited me to your
392 The Leopard's Spots
home, introduced me to your daughter, seated me at youf
table, and used me in your appeal to your constituents,
and now when I dare ask the privilege of seeking her
hand in honourable marriage, you, the scholar, patriot,
statesman and philosopher of Equality and Democracy,
slam the door in my face and tell me that I am a negro !
Is this fair or manly ? "
" I fail to see its unfairness."
" It is amazing. You are a master of history and so-
ciology. You know as clearly as I do that social inter-
course is the only possible pathway to love. And you
opened it to me with your own hand. Could I control the
beat of my heart ? There are some powers within us that
are involuntary. You could have prevented my meeting
your daughter as an equal. But all the will power of earth
could not prevent my loving her, when once I had seen
her, and spoken to her. The sound of the human voice,
the touch of the human hand in social equality are the
divine sacraments that open the mystery of love."
" Social rights are one thing, political rights another,"
interrupted Lowell.
" I deny it. If you are honest with yourself, you know
it is not true. Politics is but a manifestation of society.
Society rests on the family. The family is the unit of
civilisation. The right to love and wed where one loves
is the badge of fellowship in the order of humanity. The
man who is denied this right in any society is not a mem-
ber of it. He is outside any manifestation of its essential
life. You had as well talk about the importance of
clothes for a dead man, as political rights for such a
pariah. You have classed him with the beasts of the field.
As a human unit he does not exist for you."
" Harris, it is utterly useless to argue a point like this,"
Lowell interrupted coldly. " This must be the end of our
acquaintance. You must not enter my house again."
Equality with a Reservation 393
" My God, sir, you can't kick me out of your home like
this when you brought me to it, and made it an issue of
life or death!"
" I tell you again you are crazy. I have brought you
here against her wishes. She left the house with her
friend this morning to avoid seeing you. Your presence
has always been repulsive to her, and with me it has been
a political study, not a social pleasure."
" I beg for only a desperate chance to overcome this
feeling. Surely a man of your profound learning and
genius can not sympathise with such prejudices? Let me
try — let her decide the issue."
" I decline to discuss the question any further."
" I can't give up without a struggle ! " the negro cried
with desperation.
Lowell arose with a gesture of impatience.
" Now you are getting to be simply a nuisance. To be
perfectly plain with you, I haven't the slightest desire
that my family with its proud record of a thousand years
of history and achievement shall end in this stately old
house in a brood of mulatto brats ! "
Harris winced and sprang to his feet, trembling with
passion. " I see," he sneered, " the soul of Simon Le-
gree has at last become the soul of the nation* The
South expresses the same luminous truth with a little
more clumsy brutality. But their way is after all more
merciful. The human body becomes unconscious at the
touch of an oil-fed flame in sixty seconds. Your meth-
ods are more refined and more hellish in cruelty. You
have trained my ears to hear, eyes to see, hands to touch
and heart to feel, that you might torture with the denial
of every cry of body and soul and roast me in the flames
of impossible desires for time and eternity ! "
" That will do now. There's the door ! " thundered
Lowell with a gesture of stern emphasis. " I happen to
394 The Leopard's Spots
know the important fact that a man or woman of negro
ancestry, though a century removed, will suddenly breed
back to a pure negro child, thick lipped, kinky headed,
flat nosed, black skinned . One drop of your blood in my
family could push it backward three thousand years in
history. If you were able to win her consent, a thing
unthinkable, I would do what old Virginius did in the
Roman Forum, kill her with my own hand, rather than
see her sink in your arms into the black waters of a
Negroid life ! Now go 1 "
CHAPTER VIII
THE NEW SIMON LEGREE
HARRIS immediately resigned his office in the cus-
tom house which he owed to Lowell and began
a search for employment.
" I will not be a pensioner of a government of hypo-
crites and liars," he exclaimed as he sealed his letter of
resignation.
And then began his weary tramp in search of work.
Day after day, week after week, he got the same answer —
an emphatic refusal. The only thing open to a negro was
a position as porter, or bootblack, or waiter in second-
rate hotels and restaurants, or in domestic service as
coachman, butler or footman. He was no more fitted for
these places than he was to live with his head under water.
" I will blow my brains out before I will prostitute my
intellect, and my consciousness of free manhood by such
degrading associates and such menial service ! " he de-
clared with sullen fury.
At last he determined to lay aside his pride and educa-
tion and learn a manual trade. Not a labour union would
allow him to enter its ranks.
He managed to earn a few dollars at odd jobs and went
to New York. Here he was treated with greater bru-
tality than in Boston. At last he got a position in a big
clothing factory. He was so bright in colour that the
manager never suspected that he was a negro, as he was
accustomed to employing swarthy Jews from Poland and
Russia.
395
39$ The Leopard's Spots
When Harris entered the factory the employees discov-
ered within an hour his race, laid down their work, and
walked out on a strike until he was removed.
He again tried to break into a labour union and get the
protection of its constitution and laws. He managed at
last to make the acquaintance of a labour leader who had
been a Quaker preacher, and was elated to discover that
his name was Hugh Halliday, and that he was a son of
one of the Hallidays who had assisted in the rescue of his
mother and father from slavery. He told Halliday his
history and begged his intercession with the labour union.
" I'll try for you, Harris," he said, " but it's a doubtful
experiment. The men fear the Negro as a pestilence."
" Do the best you can for me. I must have bread. I
only ask a man's chance," answered Harris. Halliday
proposed his name and backed it up with a strong per-
sonal endorsement, gave a brief sketch of his culture and
accomplishments and asked that he be allowed to learn
the bricklayer's trade.
When his name came up before the Brick Layers'
Union, and it was announced that he was a negro, it pre-
cipitated a debate of such fury that it threatened to de-
velop into a riot.
One of the men sprang toward the presiding officer with
blazing eyes, gesticulating wildly until recognised.
" I have this to say," he shouted. " No negro shall
ever enter the door of this Union except over my dead
body. The Negro can under live us. We can not com-
pete with him, and as a race we can not organise him.
Let him stay in the South. We have no room for him
here, and we will kill him if he tries to take our bread
from us ! "
" Have you no sympathy for his age-long sufferings in
slavery ? " interrupted Halliday.
" Slavery ! of all the delusions the idea that slavery
The New Simon Legree 397
was abolished in this country in 1865 is the silliest Sla-
very was never firmly established until the chattel form
was abandoned for the wage system in 1865. Chattel
slavery was too expensive. The wage system is cheaper.
Now they never have to worry about food, or clothes, or
houses, or the children, or the aged and infirm among
wage slaveSo
" Once the master hunted the slave, — now the slave
must hunt the master, beg for the privilege of serving
him and trample others to death trying to fasten the
chains on when a brother slave drops dead in his tracks.
" No, I don't shed any crocodile tears over the Negro
slavery of the South. It was a mild form of servitude,
in which the Negro had plenty to eat and wear, never suf-
fered from cold, slept soundly and reared his children in
droves with never a thought for the morrow.
" Then mothers and babes were sometimes, though not
often, separated by an executor's or sheriffs sale. Now,
we know better than to allow babes to be born. Then, a
babe was a valuable asset and received the utmost care.
Now, we have baby farms which we fertilise with their
bones. I know of one old hag in this city who has killed
over two thousand babes.
" What chance has your girl or mine to marry and build
a home? Not one in a hundred will ever feel the breath
of a babe at her breast.
" No ! " he closed in thunder tones. " I'll fight the en-
croachment of the Negro on our life with every power of
body and soul ! "
A hundred men leaped to their feet at once, shouting
and gesticulating. The chairman recognised a tall dark
man with a Russian face, but who spoke perfect English.
" I, gentlemen, am an anarchist in principle, and differ
slightly in the process by which I come to the same con-
clusion as my friend who has taken his seat. I grieve at
398 The Leopard's Spots
the necessity before the workingmen of returning to sla-
very. All we can hope now for a century or two centu-
ries, is socialism. Socialism is simply a system of slavery
— that is, enforced labour in which a Bureaucracy is
master. We must enter again a condition of involuntary
servitude for the guarantee by the State of food and
clothes, shelter and children.
" It is no time to weep over slavery. The one thing we
demand now is the nationalisation of industries under the
control of State Bureaux which will enforce labour from
every citizen according to his capacity, for the simple
guarantee of what the negro slave received, the satisfac-
tion of the two elemental passions, hunger and love."
Again a clamour broke out that drowned the speaker's
voice. A Socialist and an Anarchist clinched in a fight,
and for five minutes pandemonium reigned, but at the end
of it Harris was lying on the sidewalk with a gash in his
head, and Halliday was bending over him.
When Harris had recovered from his wound, Halliday
took him on a round of visits to big mills in a populous
manufacturing city across in New Jersey.
" These mills are all owned by Simon Legree," he in-
formed Harris," and the unions have been crushed out of
them by methods of which he is past master. I don't
know, but it may be possible to get you in there."
They tried a half dozen mills in vain, and at last they
met a foreman who knew Halliday who consented to hear
his plea.
" You are fooling away your time and this man's time,
Halliday," he told him in a friendly way. " I'd cut my
right arm off sooner than take a negro in these mills and
precipitate a strike."
" But would a strike occur with no union organisa-
tion?"
"Yes, in a minute. You know Simon Legree who
The New Simon Legree 399
owns these mills. If a disturbance occurred here now the
old devil wouldn't hesitate to close every mill next day and
beggar fifty thousand people."
" Why would he do such a stupid thing? "
" Just to show the brute power of his fifty millions of
dollars over the human body. The awful power in that
brute's hands, represented in that money, is something
appalling. Before the war he cracked a blacksnake whip
over the backs of a handful of negroes. 'Now look at
him, in his black silk hat and faultless dress. With his
millions he can commit any and every crime from theft
to murder with impunity. His power is greater than a
monarch. He controls fleets of ships, mines and mills,
and has under his employ many thousands of men.
Their families and associates make a vast population.
He buys Judges, Juries, Legislatures, and Governors
and with one stroke of his pen to-day can beggar
thousands of people. He can equip an army of hire-
lings, make peace or war on his own account, or force
the governments to do it for him. He has neither
faith in God, nor fear of the devil. He regards all men
as his enemies and all women his game.
" They say he used to haunt the New Orleans' slave
market, when he was young and owned his Red River
farm, occasionally spending his last dollar to buy a hand-
some negro girl who took his fancy.
" Look at him now with his bloated face, beastly jaw,
and coarse lips. He walks the streets with his lecherous
eyes twinkling like a snake's and saliva trickling from the
corners of his mouth practically monarch of all he sur-
veys. He selects his victims at his own sweet will, and
with his army of hirelings to do his bidding, backed by
his millions, he lives a charmed life in a round of daily
crime.
" How many lives he has blasted among the population
40O The Leopard's Spots
of the multitude of souls dependent on him for bread,
God only knows. It is said he has murdered the souls
of many innocent girls in these mills — "
" Surely that is an exaggeration," broke in Halliday.
" On the other hand I believe the picture is far too
mild. I tell you no human mind can conceive the awful
brute power over the human body his millions hold under
our present conditions of life."
There was a tinge of deep personal bitterness in the
man's words that held Halliday in a spell while he contin-
ued,
" Under our present conditions men and women must
fight one another like beasts for food and shelter. The
wildest dreams of lust and cruelty under the old system
of Southern slavery would be laughed at by this modern
master."
He paused a moment in painful reverie.
" There lies his big yacht in the harbour now. She is
just in from a cruise in the Orient. She cost half a
million dollars, and carries a crew of fifty men. With
them are beautiful girls hired at fancy wages con-
nected with the stewardess* department. She ships a
new crew every trip. Not one of those young faces is
ever lifted again among their friends."
He paused again and a tear coursed down his face.
" I confess I am bitter. I loved one of those girls once
when I was younger. She was a mere child of seven-
teen." His voice broke. " Yes, she came back shattered
in health and ruined. I am supporting her now at a quiet
country place. She is dying.
" Think of the farce of it all ! " he continued passion-
ately.
" The picture of that brute with a whip in his hand
beating a negro caused the most terrible war in the his-
tory of the world. Three millions of men flew at each
The New Simon Legree 401
other's throats and for four years fought like demons. A
million men and six billions of dollars worth of property
were destroyed.
" He was a poor harmless fool there beating his own
faithful slave to death. Compare that Legree with the
one of to-day, and you compare a mere stupid man with a
prince of hell. But does this fiend excite the wrath of the
righteous ? Far from it. His very name is whispered in
admiring awe by millions. He boasts that dozens of
proud mothers strip their daughters to the limit the police
law will allow at every social function he honours with
his presence, and offer to sell him their own flesh and
blood for the paltry consideration of a life interest in one-
third of his estate! And he laughs at them all. His
name is magic!
" I know of one weak fool, a petty millionaire, whom
Legree lured into a speculative trap and ruined. On
his knees in his Fifth Avenue palace the whining coward
kissed Legree's feet and begged for mercy. He kicked
him and sneered at his misery. At last when he had tor-
tured him to the verge of madness he offered to spare him
on one condition — that he should give him his daughter
as a ransom. And he did it.
" No, the brute power of such a man to-day is beyond
the grasp of the human mind. His chances for debauch-
ery and cruelty are limitless. The brain of his hirelings
is put to the test to invent new crime against nature to
interest his appetites. The only limit to his power of evil
is the capacity of the human mind to think, and his body
to act and endure. When he is exhausted, he can com-
mand the knowledge and the skill of ages and the masters
of all Science to restore his strength, while satellites lick
his feet and sing his praises —
" Risk the whim of such a man with the lives of these
poor people dependent on me? No, I'd sooner kill that
403 The Leopard's Spots
negro you have brought here and take my chances of de-
tection."
Halliday gave up the task, returned to New York,
and sought the aid of the greatest labour leader in Amer-
ica, who had arrived in the city from the West the day
before.
" No, Halliday," he said emphatically. " Send your
negro back down South. We don't want any more of
them, or to come in contact with them. I have just come
from the West where a desperate strike was in progress in
one of Legree's mines. Our men were toiling in the depth
of the earth in midnight darkness, never seeing the light
of day, for just enough to keep body and soul together.
They tried to wring one little concession from their ab-
sent master, who had never condescended to honour them
with his presence. What did he do? Shut down his
mines, and brought up from the South a herd of negroes
who came crowding to the mines to push our men back
into hell. We begged them to go home and let us alone.
They grinned, shuffled and looked at their white driver
for the signal to go to work. I ordered the men to shoot
them down like dogs. We made the Governor issue a
proclamation driving them back South and warning their
race that if they attempted to enter the borders of the state
he would meet them with Catling guns.
" No, send your friend South. The winters up here
are too cold for him and the summers too hot."
In the meantime Harris walked the streets with a
storm of furious passion raging in his soul. The realisa-
tion of the shame and the horror of his position ! He was
the son of Eliza Harris who had fled from the kindliest
form of slavery in Kentucky. He had a trained mind,
and the brightest gifts of musical genius. Yet he stood
that day at the door of Simon Legree and begged in vain
for the privilege of serving in the meanest capacity as his
The New Simon Legrec 403
slave! What a strange circle of time, those forty years
of the past !
And then the tempter whispered the right word at the
right moment, and his fate was sealed.
"There's but one thing left. I will do it!" he ex-
claimed.
He entered the employ of a gambling joint and deliber-
ately began a life of crime. After a month he won five
hundred dollars, and went on a strange journey, visiting
the scenes in Colorado, Kansas, Indiana and Ohio where
negroes had recently been burned alive. He would find
the ash-heap, and place on it a wreath of costly flowers.
He lingered thoughtfully over the ash-piles he found in
Kansas made from the flesh of living negroes. He tried
to imagine the figure of John Brown marching by his
side, but instead he felt the grip of Simon Legree's hand
on his throat, living, militant, omnipotent . His soul had
conquered the world . Yet even Legree had never dared
to burn a negro to death in the old days of slavery.
He found one of these ash-heaps at the foot of the
monument in Indiana to the great Western colleague of
Thaddeus Stevens, and with a sigh placed his wreath on
it, and passed on into Ohio.
He went to the spot where his mother had climbed up
the banks of the Ohio River into the promised land of
liberty, and followed the track of the old Underground
Railroad for fugitive slaves a few miles. He came to a
village which was once a station of this system. Here
strangest of all, he found one of these ash-heaps in the
public square ,
CHAPTER IX
THE NEW AMERICA
ANOTHER year of struggle and suffering, hope
and fear, Gaston had passed, and still he was no
nearer the dream of realised love. If anything
had changed, the General's pride had added new force to
his determination that his daughter should not marry the
man who had defied him.
His chief reliance for Gaston's defeat was on time, and
the broadening of Sallie's mind by extended travel. He
had sent her abroad twice, and this year he sent her to
spend another three months in Europe.
These absences seemed only to intensify her longing
for her lover. On her return the General would burst
into a storm of rage at her persistence. She had ceased
to give him any bitter answers, only smiling quietly and
maintaining an ominous silence.
He had a new cause now of dislike for the man of her
choice. Gaston had become a man of acknowledged
p^wer in politics and was the leader of a group of radical
young men who demanded the complete reorganisation of
the Democratic party, the shelving of the old timers,
among whom he was numbered, and the announcement
of a radical programme upon the Negro issue.
Radicalism of any sort he had always hated. Now,
as advanced by this young upstart, it was doubly odious.
The General had never given much time to his political
duties, but his name was a power, and he gave regularly
404
The New America 405
to the campaign committee the largest cash contribution
they received.
He tried in a clumsy way to put Gaston off the State
Executive Committee, but failed. He saw Gaston quietly
laughing at him. Then he opened his pocket book and
worked up a machine. It was a formidable power, and
Gaston feared its influence in the coming convention.
While this fight was in progress, and Sallie was in
Europe, the destruction of the Maine in Havana harbour
stilled the world into silence with the echo of its sullen
roar. There was a moment's pause, and the nation lifted
its great silk battle flags from the Capitol at Washington,
and called for volunteers to wipe the empire of Spain
from the map of the Western world.
The war lasted but a hundred days, but in those hun-
dred days was packed the harvest of centuries.
War is always the crisis that flashes the search light
into the souls of men and nations, revealing their un-
known strength and weakness, and the changes that have
been silently wrought in the years of peace.
In these hundred days, statesmen who were giants sud-
denly shrivelled into pigmies and disappeared from the
nation's life. Young men whose names were unknown
became leaders of the republic and won immortal fame.
We were afraid that our nation still lacked unity. The
world said we were a mob of money-grubbers, and had
lost our grasp of principle. The President called for
125,000 men to die for their flag, and next morning
800,000 were struggling for place in the line.
We feared that religion might threaten the future with
its bitter feud between the Roman Catholic and Protest-
ant in a great crisis. We saw our Catholic regiments
march forth to that war with screaming fife and throb-
bing drum and the flag of our country above them, going
forth to fight an army that -had been blessed by the Pope
406 The Leopard's Spots
of Rome. The flag had become the common symbol of
eternal justice, and the nation the organ through which
all creeds and cults sought for righteousness.
We feared the gulf between the rich and the poor had
become impassable, and we saw the millionaire's son take
his place in the ranks with the workingman. The first
soldier wearing our uniform who fell before Santiago
with a Spanish bullet in his breast, was an only son from a
palatial home in New York, and by his side lay a cowboy
from the West and a plowboy from the South. Once
more we showed the world that classes and clothes are
but thin disguises that hide the eternal childhood of the
soul.
Sectionalism and disunity had been the most terrible
realities in our national history. Our fathers had a poet
leader whose soul dreamed a beautiful dream called
E Pluribus Unum. But it had remained a dream. New
England had threatened secession years before South
Carolina in blind rage led the way. The Union was saved
by a sacrifice of blood that appalled the world. And still
millions feared the South might be false to her plighted
honour at Appomattox. The ghost of Secession made and
unmade the men and measures of a generation.
Then came the trumpet call that put the South to the
test of fire and blood. The world waked next morning
to find for the first time in our history the dream of union
a living fact. There was no North, no South, — but from
the James to the Ric Grande the children of the Confed-
eracy rushed with eager flushed faces to defend the flag
their fathers had once fought.
And God reserved in this hour for the South, land of
ashes and tombs and tears, the pain and the glory of the
first offering of life on the altar of the new nation. Our
first and only officer who fell dead on the deck of a war-
ship, with the flag above him, was Worth Bagley, of
The New America 407
North Carolina, the son of a Confederate soldier. The
gallant youngster who stood on the bridge of the Hem-
mac, and between two towering mountains of flaming
cannon, in the darkness of night blew up his ship and
set a new standard of Anglo-Saxon daring, was the son
of a Confederate soldier of North Carolina.
The town of Hambright furnished a whole company
of eighty-six men, a Captain, three Lieutenants, and a
Major, who saw service in the war.
When they were drawn up in the court house square
under the old oak, the Preacher stood before them and
called the roll from four browned parchments. They
were Campbell county Confederate rosters. Every one of
the eighty-six men was a child of the Confederacy. And
the immortal company F, that was wiped out of existence
at the battle of Gettysburg furnished more than half
these children.
" Ah, boys, blood will tell ! " cried the Preacher, shak-
ing hands with each man as they left.
A single round from the guns, and it was over. The
yellow flag of Spain, lit with the sunset splendour of a
world empire, faded from the sky of the West.
A new naval power had arisen to disturb the dreams of
statesmen. The Oregon, that fierce leviathan of ham-
mered steel, had made her mark upon the globe. In a
long black trail of smoke and ribbon of foam, she had
circled the earth without a pause for breath. The
thunder of her lips of steel over the shattered hulks of a
European navy proclaimed the advent of a giant democ-
racy that struck terror to the hearts of titled snobs.
He who dreamed this monster of steel, felt her heart
beat, saw her rush through foaming seas to victory, be-
fore the pick of a miner had struck the ore for her ribs
from a mountain side, was a child of the Confederacy —
that Confederacy whose desperate genius had sent the
408 The Leopard's Spots
Alabama spinning round the globe in a whirlwind of
fire.
America united at last and invincible, waked to the
consciousness of her resistless power»
And, most marvellous of all, this hundred days of war
had re-united the Anglo-Saxon race. This sudden union
of the English speaking people in friendly alliance dis-
turbed the equilibrium of the world, and confirmed the
Anglo-Saxon in his title to the primacy of racial sway.
CHAPTER X
ANOTHER DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
ALMOST every problem of national life had been
illumined and made more hopeful by the search-
light of war save one — the irrepressible conflict
between the African and the Anglo-Saxon in the develop-
ment of our civilisation. The glare of war only made
the blackness of this question the more apparent.
While the well-drilled negro regulars, led by white
officers acquitted themselves with honour at Santiago, the
negro volunteers were the source of riot and disorder
wherever they appeared. From the first, it was seen by
thoughtful men that the Negro was an impossibility in
the newborn unity of national life. When the Anglo-
Saxon race was united into one homogeneous mass in
the fire of this crisis, the Negro ceased that moment to
be a ward of the nation.
A negro regiment had been in camp at Independence
during the war and was still there awaiting orders to be
mustered out. Its presence had inflamed the passions
of both races to the danger point of riot again and again.
The negro who was editing their paper at Independence
had gone to the length of the utmost license in seeking
to influence race antagonism.
When the regiment of which the Hambright company
was a member was mustered out at Independence, Gas-
ton was invited to deliver the address of welcome home
to the soldiers, and a crowd of five thousand people were
present, one-half of whom were negroes.
409
410 The Leopard's Spots
While Gaston was speaking in the square, a negrc
trooper passing along the street refused to give an inch
of the sidewalk to a young lady and her escort, who met
him. He ran into the girl, jostling her roughly, and the
young white man knocked him down instantly and
beat him to death. The wildest passions of the negro
regiment were roused. McLeod was among them that
day seeking to increase his popularity and influence in the
coming election, and he at once denounced Gaston as
the cause of the assault, and urged the leaders in secret to
retaliate by putting a bullet through his heart.
The white regiment had been mustered out, and their
guns in most cases had been retained by the men. The
negro troops were to be mustered out the next day.
Late in the afternoon Gaston had received information
that a plot was on foot to kill him that night, when a
negro mob would batter down his door on the pretense
of searching for the man who had assaulted the trooper.
The Colonel of the regiment just disbanded heard it, and
that night his men bivouacked in the yard of the hotel
and slept on their guns.
A little after twelve o'clock, a mob of five hundred
negroes attempted to force their way into the hotel. They
met a regiment of bayonets, broke, and fled in wild
confusion.
This event was the last straw that broke the camel's
back. In the morning paper a blazing notice in display
capitals covered the first page, calling a mass meeting
of white citizens at noon in Independence Hall.
The little city of Independence was one of the oldest
in the nation. It boasted the first declaration of inde-
pendence from Great Britain antedating a year the Phila-
delphia document. The people had never rested tamely
under tyranny nor accepted insult.
The McLeod Negro-Farmer Legislature had remodelled
Another Declaration of Independence 411
the ancient charter of the city, and under the new instru-
ment a combination of negroes and criminal whites had
taken possession of every office.
One half of these office holders were incompetent and
insolent negroes. The Chief of Police was an ignoramus
in league with criminals, and their Mayor, a white dema-
gogue elected by pandering to the lowest passions of
a negro constituency.
Burglary and highway robbery were almost daily oc-
currences. The two largest stores in the city and four
residences had been burned within a month. Appeal to
the police became a farce, and it was necessary to hire and
arm a force of private guards to patrol the city at night.
When arrests were made, the servile authorities promptly
released the criminals. Negro insolence reached a height
that made it impossible for ladies to walk the streets
without an armed escort, and white children were way-
laid and beaten on their way to the public schools.
The incendiary organ of the negroes, a newspaper that
had been noted for its virulent spirit of race hatred, had
published an editorial defaming the virtue of the white
women of the community.
At eleven o'clock the quaint old hall, built in Revolu-
tionary days to seat five hundred people, was packed with
a crowd of eight hundred stern-visaged men standing so
thick it was impossible to pass through them and thou-
sands were massed outside around the building.
Gaston, whose ancestors had been leaders in the great
Revolution, was called to the chair. The speech-making
was brief, fiery, and to the point.
Within one hour they unanimously adopted this resolu-
tion:
" Resolved, that we issue a second Declaration
of Independence from the infamy of corrupt
and degraded government. The day of Negro
412 The Leopard's Spots
domination over the Anglo-Saxon race shall
close, now, once and forever. The government
of North Carolina was established by a race of
pioneer white freemen for white men and it
shall remain in the hands of freemen.
We demand the overthrow of the criminal
and semi-barbarian regime under which we now
live, and to this end serve notice on the present
Mayor of this city, its Chief of Police, and the
six negro aldermen and their low white asso-
ciates that their resignations are expected by
nine o'clock to-morrow morning. We demand
that the negro anarchist who edits a paper in
this city shall close his office, remove its fixtures
'and leave this county within twenty- four hours."
A committee of twenty-five, with Gaston as its Chair-
man, was appointed to enforce these resolutions.
By four o'clock an army of two thousand white
men was organised, and placed under the command of the
Rev. Duncan McDonald, pastor of the First Presbyterian
Church of the city, who had been a brave young officer
in the Confederate army. Every minister in the county
was enrolled in this guard and carried a musket on picket
duty, or in a reserve camp that night.
At six o'clock, Gaston summoned thirty-five of the
more prominent negroes of the county including two of
the professors in Miss Susan Walker's college, to meet
the Committee of Twenty-Five and receive its ultimatum,
Stern and hard of face sat the twenty-five chosen repre-
sentatives of that world-conquering race of men at one
end of the room, while at the other end sat the thirty-
five negroes anxious and fearful, realising that their day
of dominion had ended.
Gaston rose and handed them a copy of the resolutions,
Another Declaration of Independence 413
" We give you till seven-thirty to-morrow morning as
the leaders of your race to carry out these demands," he
said gravely.
" But we have no authority, sir," replied the negro
preacher to whom he handed the paper.
" Your authority is equal to ours — the authority of
elemental manhood. If you can not execute them in
peace, we will do it by force."
" We must decline such responsibility unless " — the
negro started to argue the question.
" The meeting stands adjourned ! " quietly announced
Gaston, taking up his hat and leaving the room followed
by his Committee.
At seven-thirty next morning no answer had been re-
ceived. Gaston called for seventy-five volunteers to exe-
cute the decrees.
Within thirty minutes, five hundred men swung into
line at eight o'clock, and marched four abreast to the
office of the negro paper. It was promptly burned to the
ground, its editor paid its cash value, and with a rope
around his neck, escorted to the depot and placed on a
north bound train.
As Gaston handed him his ticket for Washington he
quietly said to him,
" I have saved your life this morning. If you value it,
never put your foot on the soil of this state again."
" Thank you, sir. I'll not return."
While this guard, under strict military discipline, was
executing this decree, a mob of a thousand armed negroes
concealed themselves in a hedge-row and fired on them
from ambush, killing one man and wounding six. Gas-
ton formed his men in line, returned the fire with deadly
effect, charged the mob, put them to flight, driving them
into the woods outside the city limits, and placed the
town under informal but strict martial law. By ten o'clock
414 The Leopard's Spots
the resignation of every city and county officer was in his
hand, and the Mayor and Chief of Police were at his
feet begging for mercy.
He posted a notice over the county warning every
negro and white associate that no further insolence or
criminality would be tolerated.
The county and municipal election was but three days
off and there was but one ticket on the field. When the
white men elected were sworn in, the guards went to the
woods and told the terrified and half starving negroes they
could return to their homes, a competent police force
was organised, and the volunteer organisation disbanded.
Negro refugees and their associates once more filled
the ear of the national government with clamour for the
return of the army to the South to uphold Negro power,
but for the first time since 1867, it fell on deaf ears. The
Anglo-Saxon race had been reunited. The Negro was no
longer the ward of the Republic. Henceforth, he must
stand or fall on his own worth and pass under the law
of the survival of the fittest.
This event made a tremendous impression on the imag-
ination of the people. It increased the popularity and
power of Gaston, its intended victim,-
The General was more than ever determined to destroy
Gaston's power in the convention which was to meet in
a few weeks. He had his candidate for Governor well
groomed and he had captured the largest number of
pledged delegates. There were three other candidates,
but none of them apparently were backed by Gaston „
The General was puzzled at his methods, and failed to
discover his programme, though he spent money with
liberality and exhausted every resource at his command.
A strange thing had occurred that had upset all calcu-
lations. Beginning at Independence a race fire had
broken into resistless fury and was sweeping along the
Another Declaration of Independence 415
line of all the counties on the South Carolina border and
over the entire state with incredible rapidity. Every-
where, the white men were arming themselves and parad-
ing the streets and public roads in cavalry order dressed
in scarlet shirts. This Red Shirt movement was a spon-
taneous combustion of inflammable racial power that had
been accumulating for a generation.
The Democratic Executive Committee was called to-
gether in haste and made the most frantic efforts to stop
it. But there was no head to it. It had no organisation
except a local one, and it spread by a spark flying from
one county to another.
McLeod laughed at the address of the Democratic
Committee and swore Gaston was the organiser of the
movement. He determined to nip it in the bud by
putting Gaston under a cloud that would destroy his
influence. He did not dare to attack him for his part
in the Revolution at Independence. He preferred to be-
little that affair as a local disturbance.
But at an election for Congressman to fill a vacancy,
the Democratic candidate had won by a narrow margin
in a campaign of great bitterness under Gaston's leader-
ship.
Charges of fraud were freely made on both sides. Mc-
Leod determined to utilise these charges, and by pro-
ducing perjured witnesses before a packed court, place
Gaston in jail without bail until the convention had met.
He had every advantage in such a conspiracy. The
United States judge whom he intended to utilise was a
creature of his own making, a trickster whose confirma-
tion had been twice defeated in the Senate by the mem-
bers of his own party on his shady record. But he had
won the place at last by hook and crook, and McLeod
owned him body and soul.
Accordingly Gaston was arrested with a warrant Me-
416 The Leopard's Spots
Leod had obtained from his judge, arraigned before him
and committed without bail. He was charged with a
felony under the election laws, taken to Asheville and
placed in jail.
The audacity of this arrest and the vehemence with
which McLeod pressed his charges created a profound
sensation in the state. It was rumoured that the graver
charge of murder lay back of the charge of felony and
would be pressed in due tirrie. A murder had been com-
mitted in the district during the exciting campaign and
no clue had ever been found to its perpetrator. McLeod
knew he had no evidence connecting Gaston with this
event, but he knew that he had henchmen who would
swear to any thing he told them and stick to it
CHAPTER XI
THE HEART OF A WOMAN
A WEEK after Gaston's imprisonment Sallie Worth
arrived in New York from her last trip abroad.
She had cut her trip short and cabled her father
of her return.
She was in an agony of suspense and uncertainty about
her lover. Gaston's letters had failed to reach her for a
month by reason of the war which had demoralised the
mail service. Her own letters had failed to reach Gaston
for a similar reason.
The General hastened to New York to meet his wife
and daughter and persuade Sallie to remain in the North
until December. He was hopeful now that her long ab-
sence and Gaston's absorption in politics, his bitter op-
position to him personally, and the cloud under which he
rested in prison, ^ would be the final forces that would
give him the victory in the long conflict he had waged
for the mastery of his daughter's heart.
Before informing Sallie of the stirring events at Inde-
pendence and the part Gaston had taken in them, or allow-
ing her to learn of his imprisonment, the General sought
to find the exact state of her mind.
" I trust, Sallie," he began, " you are recovering from
your infatuation for this man. You know how dearly I
love you. I have never taken a step in life since I looked
into your baby face that wasn't for you and your happi-
ness."
41*
4i 8 The Leopard's Spots
She only looked at him wistfully and her eyes seemed
to be dreaming.
" I want you to have some pride. Gaston has attempted
to kick me out of the councils of the party, and become
the dictator of the state. His course is one of violence
and radicalism. I regard him as a dangerous man, and
I want you to have nothing to do with him."
She was gravely silent.
" Do you believe he has been faithfully dreaming of
you in your absence ? " asked the General.
"Yes, Idol"
" Then let me disabuse your mind. It is not the way
of strong men. He is absolutely absorbed in a desperate
political struggle in which his personal ambitions are
first. I have seen him paying the most devoted attentions
to the daughter of our rival down east, whose influence
he wants, and it is rumoured among his friends that he
has proposed to her."
" Who told you that ? " she asked impetuously.
" I had it first from Allan, but I've heard it since from
others/'
" I do not believe a word of it," she declared.
" That's because you're a woman and hold such silly
ideals. I tell you, he wants you only because he knows
you are rich, and he wishes to brow-beat me. Such a
man will try to whip you before you have been his wife
five years. I know that kind of man. Why can't you
trust my judgment?"
" I had rather trust my heart's intuitions, Papa, I can
not be deceived in such a question."
" Well, you are being deceived. He is anything but a
languishing lover. At present he is a political tiger at
bay. Unless you hold him to you by some pledge he has
given, he will forget you, and marry another in two years.
I am a man and I know men. I thought I was desperately
The Heart of a Woman 419
in love twice before I met your mother. I got over both
attacks without a scratch, fell in love with her, married
and have lived happily ever since. You have overesti-
mated your own importance to him and your influence
over him/'
A great fear awed her into silence. For the first time
in all her struggle with her father the sense suddenly
came into her heart of her dependence on Gaston's
love for the very desire to live, and for the first
time she realised the possibility of losing him. What
if he should press his great ambitions to successful issue
while she stood irresolute and tortured him with her inde-
cision? If he could win the world's applause without
her, might he not, when successful, cease to need her?
Her breast heaved with the tumult of uncertainty. What
if another woman saw and loved him, and drew near to
him in his hours of soul loneliness and struggle, and he
had learned to see her face with joy! The conviction
came crushing upon her that she had not responded
bravely to this powerful man's singular devotion into
which he had poured without reserve his deepest passion.
Had he weighed her and found her wanting in some dark
hour in her absence? Her heart was in her throat at
the thought!
The General watched her keenly for several moments,
and thought at last he had broken the spell. He believed
he could now tell her of the cloud that hung over Gaston.
" I said, Sallie, that I believed Gaston a dangerous
man. I did not speak lightly. We have had terrible riots
in Independence while you were absent in which Gaston
was the leader of an armed revolution which overturned
the city and county government. Two thousand men
were under arms for a week and several were killed and
wounded on both sides. The results were good as a
whole, I confess. We have a decent government arid we
420 The Leopard's Spots
have security of property and life, but such methods will
lead to civil war."
Her face grew tense, and she looked at her father with
breathless interest during this recital.
" Was he in danger in those riots ? " she slowly asked.
" Yes, and I expect him to be killed at an early day
if he continues his present methods. A mob of five hun-
dred negroes attempted to kill him. This was one of the
causes that led to the Revolution."
She was on her feet now pale and trembling with ex-
citement.
"Where is he?" she gasped.
" Now, my dear, it's useless to get excited. The trouble
is all over and a new Mayor and police force are in charge
of the city, But he is resting under a serious cloud at
present. He is held in jail at Asheville on a charge of
felony, and a charge of murder is being pressed."
" In jail ! in jail ! " she cried incredulously while her
eyes filled with tears.
" Yes, and Allan believes these ugly charges will be
proved in the United States court, and he will be con-
victed."
She did not seem to hear the last sentence.
"In jail!" she repeated, "my lover, to whom I have
given my life, and you, my father, while I was three thou-
sand miles away stood by and did not lift a hand to help
him?"
" Has he not been my bitterest enemy, seeking to in-
sult me ! " thundered the General.
" No, he never insulted you, or spoke one unkind word
about you in his life. Oh ! this is shameful ! God for-
give me that I was not here ! " Tears were streaming
down her face.
" You hold me responsible for the crazy young scamp's
career ? " cried the General indignantly.
The Heart of a Woman 421
" Not another word to me ! " she exclaimed. " You
shall not abuse him in my presence."
The General was afraid of her when she used the tone
of voice in which she uttered that sentence. He had
heard it but once before, and that was when she told him
she was a free woman twenty-one years old, and he had
broken down. He looked at her now, fearing to speak.
At length he said,
" I have engaged a suite of rooms for you here at the
Waldorf-Astoria, my dear, for the winter. I hope you
will enjoy the season. Let us change this painful sub-
ject." '
" I do not want the rooms," she firmly replied, " I am
going to Asheville on the first train."
The General stormed and raged for an hour, but she
made no reply. Her mother was suffering from the ef-
fects of the voyage and took no part in this storm.
" But your mother will not be able to accompany you.
Surely you will not disgrace me by visiting that man in
jail!" "
" I will And when he is released I will return. I will
visit Stella Holt. I shall have ample protection."
The General was afraid to oppose her in this danger-
ous mood, and begged her mother to try to prevent her
going. Sallie sent Gaston a telegram that she was com-
ing.
In obedience to the General's request her mother called
her into her room that night and they had a long talk
and cry in each other's arms.
Mrs. Worth did not try very hard to persuade her
not to go. Down in her own woman's soul she knew
what she would do under similar conditions, and she
was too honest with her child tov try to deceive her. She
only made love to her mother- fashion.
" Oh ! Mama," cried Sallie, burying her face beside her
422 The Leopard's Spots
mother as she lay in bed. " I am at a great soul crisis.
I don't know what to do. 1 feel lonely, helpless and
heart-sick. You are a woman. Put your dear arms
about me and help me to know the truth and my duty. I
want to ask you a question."
"What is it, darling? I'll answer it, if I can/' she
replied stroking her dark hair tenderly.
" Do you believe these stories about Charlie's char-
acter?"
" Not one word of them ! " she promptly answered.
An impulsive kiss and a sob!
"Dear Mother!" she said in a low tearful voice.
" And now one more. Papa has been dinning into my
ears his own fickleness in love when young and the
fact that he knows in a long life that love is of little
importance in a man's existence. He says that I can for-
get and love again with equal intensity and better judg-
ment. Can one treat thus lightly the soul's deepest in-
stincts and still find life rich and worthy of effort ? "
Her voice broke and she continued slowly and trem-
blingly, as she held one of her mother's hands tightly,
" Now, Mama dear, heart to heart, tell me as you would
talk in your inmost soul to God, do you believe this is
true? You have sounded life's deep meaning Is this
all you know of life ? You love me. Tell me truly ? "
" No, darling, a woman can not deny this deep yearn-
ing of her soul and live. I would tear my tongue out
sooner than deceive you in such an hour."
" Sweet Mother ! " she softly murmured again as she
kissed her good night
CHAPTER XII
THE SPLENDOUR OF SHAMELESS LOVE
WHEN Gaston received her telegram in jail H$
was seated by a window looking out through
the bars on Mt. Pisgah's distant peak looming
in grandeur amid a sea of smaller blue mountain waves.
He read the message and his soul was filled with a great
peace.
" At last ! at last ! These prison bars, they are good !
I could kiss them. I can never be grateful enough to
my enemies ! "
He had taken his prison as a joke from the first, sneer-
ing at the iudge who had committed him. He knew that
every day he stayed in that jail he was becoming more
and more the master of the people. If McLeod had tried
he could not have played into his hands with more fatal
certainty. Five hundred citizens of Independence had
wired him their congratulations and offered him any as-
sistance he desired, from unlimited money for defence to
a delegation to tear the jail down.
He declined any assistance. He knew the storm
would break over their heads soon enough, and they
would be delighted to get rid of him. In the mean-
time he gave himself up to his thoughts about the woman
he loved, and wondered what change had suddenly come
over her to send him that message. He felt sure the great
crisis in their life had come. What would it be ? A sor-
rowful surrender on her part to her father's iron will
423
424 The Leopard's Spots
and a tearful good-bye forever, or the full surrender of
her woman's soul and body to the dominion of his love?
He was glad the hour had struck that should decide.
He trembled at the import of her answer but he was
ready to receive it.
A carriage rolled into the jail enclosure and two young
ladies alighted. One of them stopped in the sitting room
for visitors, and he heard the tramp of a man's heavy
feet on the stairs and after it the tread of a woman like
a soft echo.
The key grated in the lock, the door opened. She
looked into his eyes for just an instant of searching
soul revelation, saw the yearning and the grateful tears,
and with a glad cry sprang into his arms.
" You do love me ! " she passionately cried.
" Love you ? I drew you back across the sea with
my love. I knew you would come. I willed it with a
power you couldn't resist."
" I never got your letters, and I was hungry to see
you," she whispered.
" And I never got yours, and drew you back by the
power of a great heart purpose."
" Forgive me, for being away from you when you were
in danger."
" I was glad you were safe. Don't let this jail alarm
you. I'll be out too soon for my good I'm afraid."
" No other woman has come into your heart to cheer it
even with her friendship since I've been away, has she? "
" What a silly question. I've never looked at any other
woman since the day I first saw you ! "
" Tell me you love me again ! "
" I — love — you, unto the uttermost, in life, in death,
forever ! " he whispered tenderly.
She sighed and smiled. " The sweetest music the ear
of a woman ever heard ! " she half laughed, half cried.
The Splendour of Shameless Love 425
" Now, my dear, you are a full-grown woman in the
beauty of a perfect womanhood. For five years and more,
I have waited and suffered. My life is an open book
before you. When are you going to end this suspense?
You must decide now whether your father's will shall
rule your life or my love ? "
" Must I decide to-day ? " she asked tremblingly.
" Yes," he answered. " It is not fair to torture me
longer."
" Then I give up ! " she tearfully exclaimed. " God
forgive me if I am doing wrong! I can not resist you
longer. I do not desire to, — I will not ! I am all yours,
forever — soul, body, will, honour, life — all! I can not
live without you. I love you. / love you! — Kiss me! —
again — ah, your lips are sweeter than honey ! Am I bold
to say it ? I do not care, I am yours . Your arms are
the bonds of my slavery and they are sweet ! "
Gas ton was trembling with the joy that flooded his
being with these the first words of perfect faith and
submissive love that had come from her lips. And he
winced at the memory now of those hours of dissipation
when he had doubted her. He tried to confess it and
receive her absolution.
" My dear, my joy is too great. It is pain, as well
as joy. In the dark days of our first year of separation
I thought once you had forgotten me. I went away into
two weeks of debauchery. Your perfect love crushes me
with its beauty and purity. I must confess this wrong
to you. I must not deceive you in the smallest thing in
this hour."
She placed her hand over his lips, " I will not hear it.
I ought to have been braver and fought for my rights
and yours. I will not hear one word of humiliation from
you. I love you. You are my king. I love you, good
or bad. I would love you if you were a murderer on the
426 The Leopard's Spots
gallows. I can not help it. I do not wish to help it. I
will follow you to the bottomless pit or to the throne of
God and say it without fear to devil or angel . Kiss me
again! — There, do not cry — let me see your beautiful
brown eyes. Ill kiss the tears away. Tears are for my
eyes not yours ! "
" Then you will fix the day, dear ? " he softly urged.
" How soon would you like it ? "
" The sooner the better."
" Then I fix to-day," she said impulsively.
"What, here, in this jail?"
" Yes, where you are is heaven to me. I haven't no-
ticed the jail," she said soberly.
He looked at her a moment, strained her to his heart
and brushed the tears of joy from his eyes.
" My beautiful queen ! This hour is worth every pain
and every throb of anguish I have suffered. Its memory
will encompass life with a great light."
" I'll go with Stella, see Dr. Durham who is here look-
ing after your case, have him get the license, and we will
be back in half an hour ! "
The Preacher greeted her with delight. " Ah ! Mis",
Sallie, if I had known a little thing like this would have
brought you back, I would have hired a jail for him
long ago, and put him in it."
" Doctor, I want you to get the license and marry us
now, will you do it ? "
" Will I ? Just watch me. I'll have the documents
and be ready for the ceremony in fifteen minutes ! " cried
the preacher as he hurried to the office of the Register
of Deeds.
Sallie ran up to Mrs. Durham's room, told her, and
asked her to be one of the witnesses.
" Of course, I will, Sallie. You are the one girl in the
world I have always wanted Charlie to marry."
The Splendour of Shameless Love 427
Sallie slipped her arm around Mrs. Durham. " You
don't think I am doing wrong to disobey my parents
thus, do you? " she faltered. " I feel just for a moment,
now that I have decided, bruised and homesick, — I want
my mother. Let me feel your arms about my neck just
once. You are a woman. You love me as well as Charlie,
tell me, am I doing wrong ? "
Mrs. ODurham kissed her. " I do love you child. It is
a solemn hour for your soul. You alone can decide such
a question. Any intrusion of advice in such a trial would
be a sacrilege. Under ordinary conditions it would be a
dangerous thing for a girl thus to leave her father's
roof and take this step that will decide forever her
destiny. Marriage is something that swallows up life,
the past, the present, the future. We seem to have
never known anything else. I can only say, if I were
in your place, knowing all, I would do as you are
doing."
Sallie impulsively kissed her, bit her lips to keep back
a tear, and held her hand.
" I know your father well," she continued. " He is a
man I greatly admire. But he is unreasonable with any
one who dares to cross his will. You could never get
his consent now that his pride is aroused except by forc-
ing it. When it is over, he will forgive you, and when
he knows your lover as I know him, he will be as proud
of his son-in-law as a peacock of his plumage."
" Oh, it is so sweet to hear just the advice one wishes in
such an hour," cried Sallie. " I shall always love you
for these words."
" Yes, I congratulate you on the end of your long hesi-
tation. I know you will be happy. Any woman would
be happy with the love of such a man, and he was made
for you."
" Then you don't believe with Papa," she said with
428 The Leopard's Spots
a smile, "that his mouth is cruel, and that he will try
to whip me in five years, do you ? "
Mrs. Durham laughed. " Yes, he will whip you, but
they will be love licks and you will cry for more. Your
lover is a rare and brilliant man. He is strong, rugged,
resistless in will, fierce in his passions from the blood
of sunny France in his veins, and masterful in life from
the iron heritage of the hardier races. You have seen
these traits. Wait until you know him as I do in his
daily life, and you will find a wealth of patience and a
depth of tenderness that will startle. I envy you."
" Thank you," Sallie interrupted. " You don't know
how glad your words are to my heart. I've not seen much
of that trait yet. I've been half afraid of him sometimes.
Let me kiss you again."
The keeper of the jail treated Gaston with every
consideration and arranged for the marriage to take place
in the little sitting room where he allowed him to come
on parole.
The bride wore a plain travelling dress in which she
had come from New York. She had driven from the
depot past Stella Holt's home, and with her straight to
the jail.
Gaston thought her the fairest vision that ever greeted
the eye of man as he stood by her side ; for he had seen
that day the soul of a radiantly beautiful woman in the
splendour of shameless love* His own soul was drunk
with the joy of it all and his eyes now devoured her with
their intense light.
' Standing there before the Preacher whom he loved as
his father, and the foster mother who had wrapped his
little shivering body in the warmth of a great heart that
night the light of life went out in his own mother's room,
with Stella Holt's sympathetic face reflecting her friend's
happiness, the marriage ceremony was performed. He
The Splendour of Shameless Love 429
took Sallie's trembling hand in his and promised to love,
honour and cherish her as long as life endured. And
under his breath he added, " Here and hereafter — for-
ever." And then she looked into his smiling face with
her blue eyes full of unspeakable love, and in a voice
low and soft as the note of a flute, gave to him her life.
And the Preacher said, " What God hath joined to-
gether, let not man put asunder ! "
She stayed there with him until the gathering twi-
light.
" Now, I must hurry back to my father and win him. I
will not come to you a beggar. My father shall not dis-
inherit me. I am going to bring you my fortune, too."
" Oh ! curse that fortune, dear ! I've feared it was
that keeping us apart so long."
" Don't curse it. I like it, and I am going to win it
for you. You are a man of genius. Your success is as
sure as if it were already won. I will not come to you a
helpless pauper. I have never been taught to do anything.
I should like to cook for you if I knew how, and I am
going to learn how. I am going to make you the most
beautiful home that the heart of a woman can dream.
I'd rob the world for treasure for it. I am going to rob
my dear old father. He has sworn to disinherit me if
I marry without his consent. He shall not do it."
" Then, don't be long about it. You are my treasure,
I can build you a snug little nest at Hambright."
" I will only ask four weeks. Now do what I tell you.
Sit down and write Papa a letter telling him I am your
affianced bride and ask his consent to the celebration of
our marriage within three weeks. That will produce an
earthquake, and something will surely happen within four
weeks."
He wrote the letter, and she looked over his shoulder.
" You see, dear," she said as she kissed him good-bye,
430 The Leopard's Spots
" I love Papa so tenderly. You can't understand How
close the tie is between us, perhaps some day in our own
home of which I'm dreaming you may understand as you
can not now," she added softly.
" Then for your sake, dearest, I hope you can win
him. But I'm afraid of this plan of yours."
" Leave it with me for a month, do just as I tell you,;
and then I'll obey you all the rest of our lives, — if youu
orders suit me," she playfully added.
She returned to Stella Holt's, and Gaston went back to
his jail room and dreamed that night he was sleeping in
the Governor's Palace.
CHAPTER XIII
A SPEECH THAT MADE HISTORY
WHEN General Worth received Gaston's brief
and startling letter, the wires were hot be-
tween New York and Asheville for hours.
His last message was a peremptory command to his
daughter to join him immediately at Independence.
When Sallie arrived at Oakwood the General was al-
ready there, and the storm broke in all its fury. At every
bitter word she only quietly smiled, until the General was
on the verge of collapse. Day after day he begged,
pleaded, raged and finally took to hard swearing as he
looked into her calm happy face.
In the meantime McLeod and his henchman on the
judge's bench had seen a new light. The excitement over
the arrest of Gaston seemed to have fanned the flames of
the Red Shirt movement into a conflagration. He was
alarmed at its meaning. The judge heard a rumour that
five thousand Red Shirts were mobilising at the foot of
the Blue Ridge near Hambright, and that they were
going to march across the mountains, into Asheville, de-
molish the jail, liberate Gaston, and hang the judge who
had committed him without bail.
The rumour was a fake, but he was not taking any
chances. He issued an order releasing Gaston on his own
recognisance, and left for a vacation.
Gaston returned to Hambright showered with con-
gratulatory telegrams from every quarter of the state.
431
432 The Leopard's Spots
He received a brief note from Sallie saying the war
was on but had not reached its final climax, as the Gen-
eral was now devoting his best energies to the Demo-
cratic convention which was to meet in ten days, when
he expected to crush any " fool movement of young up-
starts ! "
Gaston knew of his organisation but he was sure the
number of delegates pledged to the General's machine
was not enough to dominate the body, even if he could
hold them in line.
When this convention met at Raleigh, no body of
representative men were ever more completely at sea as
to the platform or policy upon which they would appeal
to the people for the overthrow of an enemy. The coali-
tion that conquered the state and held it with the
grip of steel for four years was stronger than
ever and was absolutely certain of victory. The enor-
mous patronage of the Federal Government had been in
their hands for four years, and with the state, county
and municipal officers, a host of powerful leaders
had been gathered around McLeod's daring personality.
Apparently he was about to fasten the rule of the Negro
and his allies on the state for a generation.
When Gaston entered the convention hall he received
an ovation, heartfelt and generous, but it did not reach
the point of a disturbing element in the calculations of
the three or four prominent candidates for Governor.
General Worth had drilled his cohorts so thoroughly in
opposition to him, that any sort of stampeding was out
of the question.
The platform committee was composed of seven lead-
ers, among whom was Gaston. There was a long wrangle
over the document, and at length when they reported, a
sensation was created. For the first time since their
triumph over Simon Legree the committee was divided,
A Speech That Made History 433
and, refusing to agree, submitted majority and minority
reports. The committee stood five for the majority and
two for the minority.
Gaston and a daring young politician from the heart of
the Black Belt signed the minority report. The majority
report as submitted, was merely a rehash of the old
platform on which they had been defeated by McLeod
twice, with slight additional impeachment of the inca-
pacity and corruption of the State Administration. The
delegates from the Black Belt and the counties where the
Red Shirts had been holding their noonday parades
received it with silence. General Worth's machine
cheered it vigourously, and gave a rousing reception
to their chosen champion who made the presentation
speech.
When Gaston rose to offer and defend his minority
report, a sudden hush fell on the sea of eager faces. A
few men in the convention had heard him speak. All had
heard he was an orator of power, and were anxious to
see him. His leadership in the Revolution of Independ-
ence and his subsequent arrest and imprisonment had
made him a famous man.
" Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention :"
he began with a deliberate clear voice which spoke of
greater reserve power than the words he uttered con-
veyed— " I move to substitute for this document of mean-
ingless platitudes the following resolution on which to
make this campaign."
You could have heard a pin fall, as in ringing tones
like the call of a bugle to battle he read,
" Whereas, it is impossible to build a state inside a
state of two antagonistic races,
And whereas, the future North Carolinian must there-
fore be an Anglo-Saxon or a .Mulatto,
Resolved, that the hour has now come in our history
434 The Leopard's Spots
to eliminate the Negro from our life and reestablish fofc
all time the government of our fathers."
The delegates from New Hanover, Craven, and Halifax
counties, the great centres of the Black Belt, sprang on
their seats with a roar of applause that shook the build-
ing, and pandemonium broke loose* When one great
wave subsided another followed. It was ten minutes
before order was restored while Gaston stood calmly sur-
veying the storm.
Just before him sat General Worth, pale and trembling
with excitement. The audacity of those resolutions had
swept him for a moment off his feet and back into the
years of his own daring young manhood. He could
not help admiring this challenge of the modern world
to stand at the bar of elemental manhood and make
good, its right to existence. He was about to summon
his messengers and rally his lieutenants when Gaston
began to speak, and his first words chained his attention.
While the tumult raised by his resolutions was in prog-
ress he lifted his eye toward the gallery and there
just above him where it curved toward the plat-
form sat his beautiful secret bride. His heart leaped.
Her face was aflame with emotion, her eyes flashing with
love and pride. She slyly touched with her lips the tip
of her finger and blew a kiss across the intervening
space. He smiled into her soul a look of gratitude, and
with every nerve strung to its highest tension resumed
his place by the speaker's stand. When the tumult died
away he began a speech that fixed the history of a state
for a thousand years.
His resolutions had wrought the crowd to the highest
pitch of excitement, and his words, clear, penetrating, and
deliberate thrilled his hearers with electrical power.
" Gentlemen :" he said, and the slightest whisper was
hushed. " The history of man is a series of great pulse
A Speech That Made History 435
beats, whose flood overwhelms his future and fixes its
life. Like the dammed torrent on a mountain side, it
breaks the conservatism that holds it stagnant for genera-
tions and floods the world with its sweep. Theories,
creeds, and institutions hallowed by age, are cast as
rubbish on the scarred hills that mark its course. The old
world is buried and a new one appears.
" The Anglo-Saxon is entering the new century with
the imperial crown of the ages on his brow and the
sceptre of the infinite in his hands.
"The Old South fought against the stars in their
courses — the resistless tide of the rising consciousness
of Nationality and World-Mission. The young South
greets the new era and glories in its manhood. He joins
his voice in the cheers of triumph which are ushering in
this all-conquering Saxon. Our old men dreamed oi
local supremacy. We dream of the conquest of the
globe. Threads of steel have knit state to state. Steam
and electricity have silently transformed the face of the
earth, annihilated time and space, and swept the ocean
barriers from the path of man. The black steam shuttles
of commerce have woven continent to continent.
" We believe that God has raised up our race, as he
ordained Israel of old, in this world-crisis to establish and
maintain for weaker races, as a trust for civilisation, the
principles of civil and religious Liberty and the forms of
Constitutional Government.
" In this hour of crisis, our flag has been raised over
ten millions of semi-barbaric black men in the foulest
slave pen of the Orient. Shall we repeat the farce
of '67, reverse the order of nature, and make these black
people our rulers? If not, why should the African here,
who is not their equal, be allowed to imperil our life ? "
A whirlwind of applause shook the building.
" A crisis approaches in the history of the human
436 The Leopard's Spots
race. The world is stirred by its consciousness to-
day. The nation must gird up her loins and show her
right to live, — to master the future or be mastered in
the struggle. New questions press upon us for solution.
" Shall this grand old commonwealth lag behind and
sink into the filth and degradation of a Negroid corrup-
tion in this solemn hour of the world ? "
" No ! No ! " screamed a thousand voices.
" What is our condition to-day in the dawn of the
twentieth century? If we attempt to move forward we are
literally chained to the body of a festering Black Death !
" Fifty of our great counties are again under the heel
of the Negro, and the state is in his clutches. Our city
governments are debauched by his vote. His insolence
threatens our womanhood, and our children are beaten
by negro toughs on the way to school while we
pay his taxes. Shall we longer tolerate negro in-
spectors of white schools, and negroes in charge of white
institutions ? Shall we longer tolerate the arrest of white
women by negro officers and their trial before negro
magistrates ?
" Let the manhood of the Aryan race with its four
thousand years of authentic history answer that ques-
tion ! "
With blazing eyes, and voice that rang with the deep
peal of defiant power, Gaston hurled that sentence like
a thunder bolt into the souls of his two thousand hearers.
The surging host sprang to their feet and shouted back
an answer that made the earth tremble !
Lifting his hand for silence he continued,
" It is no longer a question of bad government. It is
a question of impossible government. We lag behind
the age dragging the decaying corpse to which we are
chained.
" Who shall deliver us from the body of this death ?
A Speech That Made History 437
" Hear me, men of my race, Norman and Celt, Angle
and Saxon, Dane and Frank, Huguenot and German
martyr blood!
" The hour has struck when we must rise in our might,
break the chains that bind us to this corruption, strike
down the Negro as a ruling power, and restore to our
children their birthright, which we received, a priceless
legacy, from our fathers .
" I believe in God's call to our race to do His work
in history. What other races failed to do, you wrought
in this continental wilderness, fighting pestilence, hunger,
cold, wild beasts, and savage hordes, until out of it all
has grown the mightiest nation of the earth.
" Is the Negro worthy to rule over you ?
" Ask history. The African has held one fourth of this
globe for 3000 years. He has never taken one step in
progress or rescued one jungle from the ape and the
adder, except as the slave of a superior race.
" In Hayti and San Domingo he rose in servile insur-
rection and butchered fifty thousand white men, women
and children a hundred years ago. He has ruled these
beautiful islands since. Did he make progress with the
example of Aryan civilisation before him? No. But
yesterday we received reports of the discovery of canni-
balism in Hayti.
" He has had one hundred years of trial in the Northern
states of this Union with every facility of culture and
progress, and he has not produced one man who has
added a feather's weight to the progress of humanity. In
an hour of madness the dominion of the ten great states
of the South was given him without a struggle. A
saturnalia of infamy followed.
" Shall we return to this ? You must answer. The cor-
ruption of his presence in our body politic is beyond the
power of reckoning. We drove the Carpet-bagger from
43 8 The Leopard's Spots
our midst, but the Scalawag, our native product, is al-
ways with us to fatten on this corruption and breed death
to society. The Carpet-bagger was a wolf, the Scala-
wag is a hyena. The one was a highwayman, the other a
sneak.
" So long as the Negro is a factor in our political life,
will violence and corruption stain our history. We can
not afford longer to play with violence. We must remove
the cause.
" Suffrage in America has touched the lowest tide-mud
of degradation. If our cities and our Southern civilsa-
tion are to be preserved, there must be a return to the
sanity of the founders of this Republic.
" A government of the wealth, virtue and intelligence of
the community, by the debased and the criminal, is a re-
lapse to elemental barbarism to which no race «f freemen
can submit.
" Shall the future North Carolinian be an Anglo-Saxon
or a Mulatto? That is the question before you.
" Nations are made by men, not by paper constitutions
and paper ballots. We are not free because we have a
Constitution. We have a Constitution because our pioneer
fathers who cleared the wilderness and dared the might
of kings, were freemen. It was in their blood, the tute-
lage of generation on generation beyond the seas, the
evolution of centuries of struggle and sacrifice.
"If you can make men out of paper, then it is possible
with a scratch of a pen in the hand of a madman to
transform by its magic a million slaves into a million
kings.
" We grant the Negro the right to life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness if he can be happy without exercis-
ing kingship over the Anglo-Saxon race, or dragging us
down to his level. But if he can not find happiness ex-
cept in lording it over a superior race, let him look for
A Speech That Made History 439
another world in which to rule. There is not room for
both of us on this continent ! "
Again and again Gaston raised his hand to still the
mad tumult of applause his words evoked.
" And we will fight it out on this line, if it takes a
hundred years, two hundred, five hundred, or a thousand.
It took Spain eight hundred years to expel the Moors.
When the time comes the Anglo-Saxon can do in one
century what the Spaniard did in eight.
" We have been congratulated on our self-restraint
under the awful provocation of the past four years.
There is a limit beyond which we dare not go, for at
this point, self-restraint becomes pusillanimous and means
the loss of manhood."
He then reviewed with thrilling power the history of
the state and the proud part played in the development
of the Republic. He showed how this border wilder-
ness of North Carolina became the cradle of American
Democracy and the typical commonwealth of freemen.
He played with the heart-strings of his hearers in this
close personal history as a great master touches the strings
of a harp. His voice was now low and quivering with
the music of passion, and then soft and caressing. He
would swing them from laughter to tears in a single
sentence, and in the next, the lightning flash of a fierce
invective drove into their hearts its keen blade so sud-
denly the vast crowd started as one man and winced at
its power.
Through it all he was conscious of two blue eyes
swimming in tears looking down on him from the gallery.
The crowd now had grown so entranced, and the tor-
rent of his speech so rapid, they forgot to cheer and
feared to cheer lest they should lose a word of the next
sentence. They hung breathless on every flash of feel-
ing from his face or eloquent gesture.
440 The Leopard's Spots
" I am not talking of a vague theory of constructive
dominion," he continued, " when I refer to the Negro
supremacy under which our civilisation is being de-
graded. I use words in their plain meaning. Negro su-
premacy means the rule of a party in which negroes pre-
dominate and that means a Negro oligarchy.
" I call your attention to one typical county of over
forty thus degraded, the county of Craven, whose quaint
old city was once the Capital of this commonwealth. What
are the facts ? The negro office-holders of Craven county
include a Congressman, a member of the Legislature, a
Register of Deeds, the City Attorney, the Coroner, two
Deputy Sheriffs, two County Commissioners, a Member
of the School Board, three Road Overseers, four Con-
stables, twenty-seven Magistrates, three City Aldermen
and four Policemen. There are sixty-two negro officials
in this county of 12,000 inhabitants, and their member
of the Legislature is a convicted felon. The white people
represent ninety-five per cent of the wealth and intelli-
gence of the community, and pay ninety-five per cent of
its taxes and are voiceless in its government.
" Would a county in Massachusetts submit to such
infamy? No, ten thousand times, no! There is not a
county in the North from Maine to California that would
submit to it twenty-four hours. Will the children of
Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill demand such sub-
mission from the children of Washington and Jefferson ?
No. The passions that obscured reason have subsided.
The Anglo-Saxon race is united and has entered upon
its world mission.
" We will take from an unprofitable servant the ballot
he has abused. To him that hath shall be given, and
from him that hath not shall be taken away even that
which he hath. It is the law of nature. It is the law of
God.
A Speech That Made History 441
" Yes, I confess it," he continued, " I am in a sense
narrow and provincial. I love mine own people. Their
past is mine, their present mine, their future is a divine
trust. I hate the dish water of modern world-citizenship.
A shallow cosmopolitanism is the mask of death for the
individual. It is the froth of civilisation, as crime is its
dregs. Race, and race pride, are the ordinances of life.
The true citizen of the world loves his country. His
country is a part of God's world.
" So I confess I love my people. I love the South, —
the stolid silent South, that for a generation has sneered
at paper-made policies, and scorned public opinion . The
South, old-fashioned, mediaeval, provincial, worshipping
the dead, and raising men rather than making money,
family loving, home building, tradition ridden. The
South, cruel and cunning when fighting a treacherous
foe, with brief volcanic bursts of wrath and vengeance.
The South, eloquent, bombastic, romantic, chivalrous,
lustful, proud, kind and hospitable. The South with
her beautiful women and brave men . The South, gener-
ous and reckless, never knowing her own interest, but
living her own life in her own way! — Yes, I love her!
In my soul are all her sins and virtues. And with it all
she is worthy to live .
" The historian tells us that all things pass in time.
Wolves whelp and stable in the palaces of dead kings and
forgotten civilisations. Memphis, Thebes and Babylon
are but names to-day. So New Orleans and New York
may perish. African antiquarians may explore their
ruins and speculate upon their life; but we may safely
fix upon a thousand centuries of intervening time. On
your shoulders now rests the burden of civilisation. We
must face its responsibilities. For my part, I believe in
your future.
" The courage of the Celt, the nobility of the Norman,
442 The Leopard's Spots
the vigour of the Viking, the energy of the Angle, the
tenacity of the Saxon, the daring of the Dane, the gal-
lantry of the Gaul, the freedom of the Frank, the earth-
hunger of the Roman and the stoicism of the Spartan
are all yours by the lineal heritage of blood, from sire
and dame through hundreds of generations and through
centuries of culture.
" Will you halt now and surrender to a mob of ragged
negroes led by white cowards who at the first clash of
conflict will hide in sewers ?
" I ask you, my people, freemen, North Carolinians, to
rise to-day and make good your right to live ! The time
for platitudes is past. Let us as men face the world and
say what we mean.
" This is a white man's government, conceived by white
men, and maintained by white men through every year of
its history, — and by the God of our Fathers it shall be
ruled by white men until the Arch-angel shall call the
end of time !
"If this be treason, let them that hear it make the most
of it.
" From the eighth day of November we will not submit
to Negro dominion another day, another hour, another
moment ! Back of every ballot is a bayonet, and the red
blood of the man who holds it. Let cowards hear, and
remember this ! Man has never yet voted away his right
to a revolution.
" Citizen kings, I call you to the consciousness of your
kingship ! "
Gaston closed and turned toward his seat, while the
crowd hung breathless waiting for his next word. When
they realised that he had finished, a rumble like the crash
in midheaven of two storms rolled over the surging sea
of men, broke against the girders of the roof like
the thunder of the Hatteras surf lashed by a hurri-
A Speech That Made History 443
cane . Two thousand men went mad. With one common
impulse they sprang to their feet, screaming, shouting,
cheering, shaking each other's hands, crying and laugh-
ing. With the sullen roar of crashing thunder another
whirlwind of cheers swept the crowd, shook the earth,
and pierced the sky with its challenge . Wave after wave
of applause swept the building and flung their
rumbling echoes among the stars. These patient kindly
people, slow to anger, now terrible in wrath, were trem-
bling with the pent-up passion and fury of years .
What power could resist their wrath!
Through it all Gaston sat silent behind the group of
the majority of the platform committee, with eyes de-
vouring a beautiful face bending toward him from the
gallery. She was softly weeping with love and pride too
deep for words.
While the tumult was still raging, before he was con-
scious of his presence, General Worth's stalwart figure
was bending over him, and grasping his hand.
" My boy, I give it up. You have beaten me . I'm
proud of you. I forgive everything for that speech.
You can have my girl. The date you've fixed for the
marriage suits me. Let us forget the past."
Gaston pressed his hand muttering brokenly his thanks,
and his soul sank within him at the thought of this proud
old iron-willed warrior's anger if he discovered their
secret marriage.
The General turned toward the side of the platform;
for he had seen the flash of Sallie's dress on the stairs
of the balcony leading to the stage. He knew her keen
eye had seen his surrender and his heart was hungry for
the kiss of reconciliation that would restore their old
perfect love.
He met her at the foot of the stairs and she threw her
arms impulsively around his neck.
The Leopard's Spots
" Oh ! Papa, dear ! I am the happiest girl in the
world . The two men of all men — the only two I love —
are mine forever ! "
While the applause was still echoing and reechoing
over the sea of surging men, and thousands of excited
people were crowding the windows from the outside and
blocking the streets in every direction clamouring for ad-
mittance, a tall man with grey beard and stentorian voice,
sprang on the platform. It was General Worth's candi-
date for Governor. He had not consulted the General but
he had an important motion to make. The crowd was
stilled at last and his deep voice rang through the build-
ing,
" Gentlemen, I move that the minority report offered
by Charles Gaston " — again a thunder peal of applause
— " be adopted as the platform by acclamation ! "
A storm of " ayes " burst from the throats of the dele-
gates in a single breath like the crash of an explosion
of dynamite.
" And now that our eyes have seen the glory of the
Lord, as we heard His messenger anointed to lead
His people, I move that this convention nominate by
acclamation for Governor — Charles Gaston ! "
Again two thousand men were on their feet shouting,
cheering, shaking hands, hugging one another and weep-
ing and yelling like maniacs.
A speech had been made that changed the current of
history, and fixed the status of life for millions of people,
CHAPTER XIV
THE RED SHIRTS
AS soon as Gaston could leave the throngs of friends
who were congratulating him on his remarkable
speech and his certainty of election, he hastened
to find Sallie.
" My lover, my king ! " she cried impulsively as he
clasped her in his arms.
" Your eyes kindled the fire in my soul and gave me
the power to mould that crowd to my will ! " he softly
told her.
" It is sweet to hear you say that ! "
" 'Now, my love, we are in an awful situation. What
are we to do with the General storming around prepar-
ing for a grand wedding? What if that jailer gives out
the news? McLeod can get it out of him if he ever
suspects anything."
" Don't worry, dear. I'll manage everything. We've
fixed the wedding on the Inauguration day — so you can't
be defeated. We will be busy day and night getting
ready my trousseau, and issuing our invitations. Papa
will never dream that one ceremony has been performed
already. He need never know it until we are ready to
tell him."
" If he discovers it, he will swear I have tried to hu-
miliate him, and he will never forgive it. Telegraph me
if anything happens, and I will come immediately. I
can't see you for weeks in the campaign, but I will write
to you every day."
445
446 The Leopard's Spots
" His Excellency, the Governor of North Carolina I "
she softly exclaimed with a dreamy look into his face.
"My lover!"
" Don't make me vain. I may be the Governor, but I
shall always be the slave of a beautiful woman who came
one day to a jail and made it a palace with the glory of
her love!"
" I'm glad I didn't wait for your success."
* * * <* *
The campaign which followed was the most remark-
able ever conducted in the history of an American com-
monwealth. In the dawn of the twentieth century, a re-
sistless movement was inaugurated to destroy the party
in control of a state, and affiliated with the most powerful
National Administration since Andrew Jackson's, on the
open declaration of their intention to nullify the Four-
teenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution
of the Republic.
There was no violence except the calm demonstration
in open daylight of omnipotent racial power, and the de-
fiance of any foe to lift a hand in protest.
When Gaston spoke at Independence, five thousand
white men dressed in scarlet shirts rode silently through
the streets in solemn parade, and six thousand negroes
watched them with fear. There was no cheering or dem-
onstration of any kind. The silence of the procession
gave it the import of a religious rite. A thousand picked
men were in line from Hambright and Campbell county
and they formed the guard of honour for their candidate
for Governor.
Like scenes were enacted everywhere. Again the
Anglo-Saxon race was fused into a solid mass? The re-
sult was a foregone conclusion.
CHAPTER XV
THE HIGHER LAW
MCLEOD knew from the day of that outburst
which followed Gaston's speech in the Demo-
cratic convention that no power on earth could
save his ticket. To the world he put on a bold face and
made his fight to the last ditch, predicting victory.
His secret anger against the Preacher and Gaston, his
pet, knew no bounds. Chagrined at his repulse by Mrs.
Durham and the attitude of contempt she had main-
tained toward him, his tongue began to wag her name
in slander to the crowd of young satellites loafing around
his office in Hambright.
" Yes, boys," he said, " the Preacher is a great man,
but his wife is greater. She's the handsomest woman in
the state in spite of a grey thread or two in her rich
chestnut hair. She has the most beautiful mouth that
ever tempted the soul of a man — and boys, my lips know
what it means to touch it."
And when they stared with open eyes at this state-
ment, McLeod shook his head, laughed and whispered,
" Say nothing about it — but facts are facts ! "
McLeod chuckled over the certainty of the shame and
suffering that would wring the Preacher's heart when
dirty gossips of a village had magnified these words into
a complete drama of scandal. For all preachers McLeod
had profound contempt, and he felt secure now from
personal harm.
447
448 The Leopard's Spots
The day the Preacher first heard of these rumours was
the occasion of Gaston's campaign address under the old
oak in the square. He had looked forward to this day
with boyish pride mingled with a great fatherly love.
It would be his triumph. He had stirred this boy's
imagination and moulded his character in the pliant hours
of his childhood. He had told himself that day he spent
with him in the woods fishing, that he had kindled a fire
in his soul that would not go out till it blazed on the
altar of a redeemed country. And he was living to see
that day.
The streets and square were thronged with such a
multitude as the village had never seen since it was
built. But the Preacher was not among them at the hour
the speaking began.
A simple old friend from the country asked him about
these rumours. He turned pale as death, made no answer,
and walked rapidly toward his study in the church where
his library was now arranged. He was dazed with hor-
ror. It was the first he had heard of it. One thing in
his estimate of life had always been as securely fixed and
sheltered in his thought as his faith in God, and that was
his love for his wife, and his perfect faith in her honour.
He closed his door and locked it and sat down trying
to think.
Had he not grown careless in the certainty of his wife's
devotion, and his own quiet but intense love? Had he not
forgotten the yearning of a woman's heart for the eternal
repetition of love's language of sign and word ?
The tears were in his eyes now, and he felt that his
heart would beat to death and break within him !
He saw that his enemy had struck at his weakest spot,
and struck to kill.
He lifted his face toward the walls in a vague unsee-
ing look and his eyes rested on a pair of crossed swords
The Higher Law 449
over a bookcase. They had been handed down to him
from a long line of fighting ancestors. He arose, took
them down mechanically, and drew one from its scab-
bard. How snugly its rough hilt fitted his nervous hand
grip ! He felt a curious throbbing in this hilt like a pulse.
It was alive, and its spirit stirred deep waters in his soul
that had never been ruffled before.
He recalled vaguely in memory things he knew had
never happened to him and yet were part of his inmost
life.
" Damn him ! " he involuntarily hissed as he gripped
the sword hilt with the instinctive power of the fighting
animal that sleeps beneath the skin of all our culture
and religion.
And then his eyes rested on a quaint little daguerreo-
type picture of his wife in her bridal dress, her sweet
girlish face full of innocent pride and warm with his
love. By its side he saw the portrait of their dead boy.
How he recalled now every hour of that wonderful period
preceding his birth — the unspeakable pride and tender-
ness with which he watched over his young wife! He
recalled the morning of his birth, and the heart rending,
piteous cries of young motherhood that tore his heart
until the nails of his own fingers cut the flesh and drew
the blood. How the minutes seemed long hours, and
how at last he bent over her, softly kissed the drawn
white lips, and gazed with tearful wonder and awe on
the little red bundle resting on her breast! He recalled
the tremor of weariness in her voice when she drew his
head down close and whispered,
" I didn't mind the pain, John, though I couldn't help
the cries. He's yours and mine — I am as proud as a
queen. Now our souls are one in him — I am tired — I
must sleep."
Every movement of his past life seemed to stand out in
450 The Leopard's Spots
this crisis with fiery clearness. He seemed to live in an
instant whole years in every detail of that closeness of
personal life that makes marriage a part of every stroke
of the heart.
At last he set his lips firmly and said,
" Yes, damn him, I will kill him as I would a snake ! "
He sat down and wrote his resignation as pastor of the
church, left it on his desk, and strode hurriedly from the
study leaving his door open. He purchased a revolver
and a box of cartridges and walked straight to McLeod's
office.
The speaking was over, and McLeod was alone writing
letters. He looked up with scant politeness as the
Preacher entered and motioned him to a seat.
Instead of seating himself, he closed the door, and
standing erect in front of it, said,
" Allan McLeod, you are the author of an infamous
slander reflecting on the honour of my wife ! "
" Indeed ! " McLeod sneered, wheeling in his chair.
" I always knew that you were a moral leper " —
" Of course, Doctor, of course, but don't get excited,*
laughed McLeod enjoying the marks of anguish on his
face.
" But that your lecherous body should dream of in-
vading the sanctity of my home, and your tongue attempt
to smirch its honour, was beyond my wildest dream of
your effrontery. How dare you ? " —
"Dare? Dare, Preacher?" interrupted McLeod still
sneering. " Why, by ' The Higher Law/ of course. You
have been teaching all your life that there are higher
laws than paper-made statutes. You have trained this
county in crime under this beautiful ideal. Surely I may
follow the teachings of a master in Israel ? "
" What do you mean, you red-headed devil ? "
" Softly, Preacher," smiled McLeod. " Simply this.
I HAVE RESIGNED MY CHURCH TO KILL YOU."
The Higher Law 451
You expound ' The Higher Law/ for political consump-
tion. I apply it to all life.
" There are but two real laws of man's nature, hunger
and love — all others change with time and progress.
Tnese are the higher laws, in fact they are the highest
laws. The stupid conventions that superstition has built
around them may hold back the weak, but the powerful
have always defied them. Your brilliant exposition of
the higher law in politics first set my mind to work, and
led me to a complete emancipation from the slavery of
conventionalism in which fools have held society for cen-
turies. There are conventional laws and superstitions
about the little ceremony called marriage cherished By the
weak-minded. There is a higher law of nature. The
brave live this life of daring freedom, while cowards
cling to forms. Do I make myself clear ? "
" Perfectly so, you mottled leper. You think that be-
cause I am a preacher, I am a poltroon, and that you can
play with me without danger to your skin. Well, I was
a man before I was a preacher. There are some things
deeper than the forms of religion, if you wish to push
the higher law to its last application. You have found
that quick in my soul, mine enemy ! I have resigned my
church — to kill you. There is not room for you and me
on this earth " —
McLeod sprang to his feet, his soul chilled by the tone
in which the threat was uttered. He started to call for
help, and looked down the gleaming barrel of a revolver.
" Move now or open your mouth, and I kill you in-
stantly. Sit down. I give you five minutes to write your
last message to this world."
McLeod sank into his seat trembling like a leaf, with
the perspiration standing out on his forehead in cold
beads. Now and then he glanced furtively at the stern
face of blind fury towering over his crouching form.
452 The Leopard's Spots
Unable to endure the terrible strain, he sank to the
floor whining, slobbering, begging in abject cowardice
for his life. He crawled toward the Preacher, reached
out his hand and touched his foot.
" My God, Doctor, you are mad. You will not commit
murder. You are a minister of Jesus Christ. Have
mercy. I am at your feet. Your wife is as pure as an
angel. I only said what I did to torture you " —
"Get up you snake!" hissed the Preacher, stamping
his body with all his might until McLeod screamed with
pain and scrambled to his feet cowering and whining
like a cur.
"Finish your letter. You will never leave this room
alive."
A long pitiful sob broke the stillness, and McLeod was
looking into the Preacher's face in vain for a ray of hope.
Suddenly Gaston burst into the room trembling with
excitement. "My God, Doctor, what does this mean?"
he cried seizing the revolver.
'McLeod sprang toward Gaston, groaning and crawling
toward his feet. " Save me Gaston, — the Doctor's gone
mad — he is about to kill me ! "
" Charlie, I must ! " pleaded the Preacher.
" No, no, this is madness. I thank God I am in time.
I missed you at the speaking, and hearing a rumour of
this slander I hurried to find you. I saw your study open
and read your letter. I knew I'd find you here. I'll
manage McLeod."
The Preacher sat down crying. McLeod had crawled
back to his desk and was mopping his face. Gaston
walked over to him and said with slow trembling
emphasis,
" I give you twelve hours to close this office, wind up
your business, and leave. In the meantime you will
write a denial of this slander satisfactory to me for
The Higher Law 453
publication. If you ever open your mouth again about
my foster-mother or put your foot in this county, I will
kill you. I expect your letter ready in two hours."
Gaston took the Preacher by the arm and led him
down the stairs and back to his study. In the reaction,
there was a pitiable breakdown.
" Oh ! Charlie, you've saved me from an unspeakable
horror. Yes, I was mad. I was proud and wilful. I
thought I knew myself. To-day, I have looked into the
bottom of hell. I have seen the depths of my own heart.
Yes, I have in me the germs of all sin and crime. I am
the brother of every thief, of every murderer, of every
scarlet woman of the streets, that ever stood in the stocks,
or climbed the steps of a gallows " —
" Hush, I will not listen to such talk. You are a man,
that's all," interrupted Gaston.
" But God's mercy is great," he went on. " I have
tried to live for my people and my country, not for my-
self. If I have failed to be a faithful husband, this is
my plea to God, I have not thought of myself, or of my
own, but of others."
After an hour he was quiet, and turning to Gaston he
said,
" Charlie, go tell your mother to come here, I want
to see her."
When she came, and sat down beside him with quiet
dignity, she said, " Now Doctor, say what you wish,
Charlie has told me much, but not all. Let us look into
each other's souls to-day."
" I only want to ask you, dear," he said tenderly, " just
how far your friendship for this villain may have led you.
I know you are innocent of any crime. I only want to
know the measure of my own guilt."
" You know, John," she said, using his first name, as
she had not for years, " he has always interested me from
454 The Leopard's Spots
a boy, and in the darkest hour of my heart's life, when I
felt your love growing cold and slipping away from me,
and my faith in all things fading, he attempted to make
vulgar love to me. I repulsed him with scorn, and have
since treated him with contempt. You know that I
kissed him once when he was a boy. I have told you all.
What do you propose to do? "
" What will I do, my darling ? " he softly asked, taking
her hand. " Begin anew from this moment to love and
cherish, honour and protect you unto death. You are my
wife. I took you a beautiful child, innocent of the world.
If you have failed in the least, I have failed. If you
have stumbled in the dark even in your thought, I will
lift you up in my arms and soothe you as a mother would
her babe. If you should fall into the bottomless pit,
into the pit and down to the lowest depths of hell I would
go, and lift you in the arms of my love. To break the tie
that binds us is unthinkable. It has passed into the in-
finite. Not only are our souls one in a little boy's grave,
but there is something so absorbing, so interwoven with
the hidden things of nature in our union that I defy all
the fiends in perdition to break it. Love is eternal. And
your love for me was the great fixed thing in my life
like my faith in the living God ! "
" Oh, John, you are breaking my heart now, when 1
think that I doubted your love! I could have brooked
your anger, but this overwhelms me ! "
" It has always been my character," he gravely said.
" Then I have never known you until now," — and in
a moment she was sobbing on his breast, the years had
rolled back, and they were in the sweet springtime of
life again.
CHAPTER XVI
THE END OF A MODERN VILLAIN
TWO days after McLeod's flight from Hambright
the press despatches flashed from New York a
startling two-column account of the attempted
assassination of the Hon. Allan McLeod, the Republican
leader of North Carolina, in the terrific campaign in
progress, and that he was compelled to flee from the
state to save his life.
Gaston was elected Governor by the largest majority
ever given a candidate for that office in the history of
North Carolina.
McLeod was promptly rewarded for his long career of
villainy by an appointment as our Ambassador to one
of the Republics of South America, and the Senate at
once confirmed him. The salary attached to his office
was $15,000, and his dream of a life of ease and luxury
had come at last.
For six months he had been quietly going to Boston
paying the most ardent court to Miss Susan Walker,
whom he had met at her college at Independence. She
was a matured spinster now appproaching sixty years
of age, and worth $5,000,000 in her own name.
He had easy sailing from the first. He joined her
church in Boston, after a brilliant profession of religion
that moved Miss Walker to tears, for he had told her it
was her love that had opened his eyes. And it was true.
McLeod timed his last visit to Boston so that he ar-
455
456 The Leopard's Spots
rived the day the city was ringing with the sensation of
his attempted assassination, and the desperate fight he
was making to uphold law and order in the South.
When Miss Walker read that article in her paper she
resolved to marry him immediately. She gave McLeod
a wedding present of a half million dollars. He wept
for joy and gratitude, and kissed her with a fervour that
satisfied her hungry heart that he was the one peerless
lover of the world.
CHAPTER XVII
WEDDING BELLS IN THE GOVERNOR'S MANSION
TWO days after McLeod and his bride reached
Asheville on their wedding trip, General Worth
received a letter which threw him into a
paroxysm of rage. Sallie's wedding had been fixed for
the day of the inauguration of the Governor. The invita-
tions were out and society in a flutter of comment and
gossip over the romantic and brilliant career of young
Gaston, and his luck in winning power, love, and fortune
in a day.
The letter was from McLeod, at Asheville, informing
him that his daughter was already married, and that
Gaston was simply seeking his fortune by a subterfuge,
and showing his power over him by humiliating him at
the last moment before the world. He enclosed a tran-
script of the marriage record, signed by the Rev. John
Durham, and witnessed by Mrs. Durham and Stella Holt.
This record was certified before the Clerk of the Court
and bore his seal. There was no doubt whatever of the
facts.
When the General handed this letter to Sallie she
flushed, looked wistfully into his face, saw its hard ex-
pression of speechless anger, turned pale and burst into
tears.
Her father without a word went to his room, and
locked himself in for twenty-four hours, refusing to see
her or speak to her.
457
458 The Leopard's Spots
On the following day she forced her way into his
presence, and they had the last great battle of wills. All
the iron power of his unconquered pride, accustomed for
a lifetime to command men and receive instant obedience,
was roused to the pitch of madness.
" If you marry him I swear to you a thousand times
you shall never cross my doorstep, and you shall never
receive one penny of my fortune. He is a gambler and
an adventurer, and seeks to make me a laughing stock
for the world ! "
" Papa, nothing could be further from his thoughts.
He has always loved and respected you. I assume all the
responsibility for our secret marriage."
" Then sharper than a serpent's tooth is the ingratitude
of a disobedient child ! "
" But, Papa, I waited five years of patient suffering
trying to obey you," she protested.
" I had rather see you dead than to see you marry that
man now, and have him sneer his triumph in my face."
" We are already married. Why talk like that? " she
pleaded tearfully.
" I deny it. I am going to annul that marriage. Felony
is ground for the dissolution of the marriage tie. A
ceremony performed under such conditions, when one of
the parties is in prison charged with felony without bail,
is illegal, and I'll show it. The lawyers will be here in
an hour and I will take action to-morrow."
" Never, with my consent ! " she firmly replied. She
left the room, consulted with her mother, and hastily
despatched a telegram to Hambright summoning Gaston
to Independence immediately.
When this telegram came he was in his office hard at
work on his inaugural address, outlining the policy of his
administration. He was in a heated argument with the
Wedding Bells in the Governor's Mansion 459
Preacher about the article on education, which followed
his recommendation of the disfranchisement of the Negro.
He had advised large appropriations for the industrial
training of negroes along the lines of the new movement
of their more sober leaders.
" It's a mistake/' argued the Preacher, " if the Negro
is made master of the industries of the South he will
become the master of the South. Sooner than allqw him
to take the bread from their mouths, the white men will
kill him here, as they do North, when the struggle for
bread becomes as tragic. The Negro must ultimately
leave this continent. You might as well begin to pre-
pare for it."
" But we propose to train him principally in Agricul-
ture. We need millions of good farmers," persisted
Gaston.
" So much the worse, I tell you," replied the Preacher.
" Make the Negro a scientific and successful farmer, and
let him plant his feet deep in your soil, and it will mean
a race war."
" It seems to me impracticable ever to move him."
"Why?" asked the Preacher. "Those over certain
ages can be left to end their days here. The Negro has
cost us already the loss of $7,003,000,000, a war that
killed a half million men, the debauchery of our suffrage,
the corruption of our life, and threatens the future with
anarchy. Lincoln was right when he said,
' There is a physical difference between the white and
the black races, which I believe will forever forbid them
living together on terms of social and political equality/
" Even you are still labouring under the delusions of
' Reconstruction.' The Ethiopian can not change his
skin, or the leopard his spots. Those who think it pos-
sible will always tell you that the place to work this mira-
460 The Leopard's Spots
cle is in the South. Exactly. If a man really believes
in equality, let him prove it by giving his daughter to a
negro in marriage. That is the test. When she sinks
with her mulatto children into the black abyss of a
Negroid life, then ask him! Your scheme of education
is humbug. You don't believe that any amount of educa-
tion can fit a negro to rule an Anglo-Saxon, or to marry
his daughter . Then don't be a hypocrite."
" But can we afford to stop his education ? "
" The more you educate, the more impossible you make
his position in a democracy. Education ! Can you
change the colour of his skin, the kink of his hair, the
bulge of his lips, the spread of his nose, or the beat of his
heart, with a spelling book? The Negro is the human
donkey. You can train him, but you can't make of him
a horse. Mate him with a horse, you lose the horse, and
get a larger donkey called a mule, incapable of preserv-
ing his species. What is called our race prejudice is
simply God's first law of nature — the instinct of self-
preservation."
Gaston was gazing at the ceiling with an absent look
in his eyes and a smile playing around his lips.
" You are not listening to me now, you young rascal !
You are dreaming about your bride."
Gaston quickly lowered his eyes, and saw the messen-
ger boy who had been standing several minutes with his
telegram.
He read Sallie's message with amazement.
" What can that mean ? " He handed the telegram to
the Preacher.
" It means he has discovered the facts, and there is
going to be trouble. He is a man of terrific passions
when his pride is roused."
" I must go immediately."
He closed his office and caught his train after a hard
Wedding Bells in the Governor's Mansion 461
drive. When he reached Independence he sprang into a
carriage and ordered the driver to take him direct to
Oakwood. What had happened he did not know and
he did not care. Of one thing he was now sure — Sallie's
love and the swift end of their separation.
His heart was singing with a great joy as he drove
over the familiar avenue through the deep shadows of
the woods, and turning through the gate saw the light
gleaming from her room.
" God bless her, she's mine now — I hope I can take her
home to-night ! " he cried.
She had walked down the drive to meet him. He
leaped from the carriage, kissed her and asked,
"What is it, dear?"
" McLeod wrote him about our marriage, and now he
swears he will bring a suit to annul it. Leave your car-
riage here and come with me. If he don't send these
lawyers away and receive you, I will be ready to go with
you in an hour."
" Queen of my heart ! " he whispered. " You are all
mine at last ! "
She called her father from the library into the parlour
and stood on the very spot where Gaston had writhed
in agony on that night of his interview with the General.
He started at the expression on her face and the tense
vigour with which she held herself erect. His suit had not
been progressing well with his lawyers. They had tried
to humour him, but had declined to express any hope of
success in such an action. He saw they were half-
hearted and it depressed him.
" Now, Papa," she firmly said, " It will not take us ten
minutes to decide forever the question of our lives. If
you take another step with these lawyers, — if you do not
dismiss them at once, I will leave this house in an hour,
go with the man of my choice to his home, and you will
462 The Leopard's Spots
never see me again. You shall not humiliate me or him
another hour."
The General looked at her as though stunned, his voice
trembled as he replied,
" Would you leave me so in an hour, dear ? "
" Yes, Charlie is waiting there on the porch for me
now, and his carriage is outside. I will not subject him
to another insult, nor allow any one else to do it."
The General sank heavily into a chair, and stretched
out his hands toward her in a gesture of tender en-
treaty.
" Come child and kiss me, — you know I can't live with-
out you ! Forgive all the foolish things I've said in anger
and pride. Your happiness is more to me than all else."
She was crying now in his arms.
" Go, bring Charlie. The youngster has beaten me.
I've fought a foeman worthy of my steel. It's no dis-
grace to surrender to him."
In a moment she led Gaston into the room, and the
General grasped his hand.
" Young man, for the last time I welcome you to this
house. Now, it is yours. You can run this place to suit
yourself. I've worked all my life for Sallie. I give up
the ship to you."
" General, let me assure you of my warmest love. I
have never said an unkind thing or harboured a harsh
thought toward you. I shall be proud of you as my
father. I have loved you and Mrs. Worth since the first
day I looked into Sallie's face."
The invitations stood. Gaston returned immediately to
Hambright, and on the morning of the inauguration, ac-
companied by Bob St. Clare, and the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court, he entered the grand old mansion with
its stately pillars and claimed his bride. The Chief Jus-
tice performed a civil ceremony, and the party started on
Wedding Bells in the Governor's Mansion 463
a triumphal procession to the Capital. The General was
bubbling over with pride in the handsome appearance the
bride and groom made, and tried to outdo himself in
kindliness toward Gaston.
" Come to think it over, Governor," he said to him
after the inauguration, " it was a brave thing in my little
girl marching into that jail alone and marrying her lover
in a prison, wasn't it? By George, she's a chip off the
old block ! I don't care if the world does know it ! "
" General, that was the bravest thing a woman could
do. She is the heroine of the drama. I play second
part."
They did not wait long for the people to know it. At
four o'clock in the afternoon an extra appeared with a
startling account of the fact that the Governor's beautiful
bride had braved the world and secretly married him
when his fortunes were at ebb-tide, and he was a prisoner
in the Asheville jail.
That night when Sallie entered the Banquet Hall of
the Governor's Mansion, leaning proudly on Gaston's
arm, she was greeted with an outburst of homage and
deep feeling she had never dreamed of receiving. When
the Governor acknowledged the applause of his name,
he bowed to his bride, not to the crowd.
The Preacher rose to respond to the toast, " The Master
and the Mistress of the Governor's Mansion," and seemed
to pay no attention to the Governor, but turning to Sallie,
he said, ;'•
" To the queenly daughter of the South, who had eyes
to see a glorious manhood behind prison bars, the nobility
to stoop from wealth to poverty and transform a jail into
a palace with the beauty of her face and the splendour
of her love — to her, the heroine who inspired Charles
Gaston with power to mould a million wills in his, change
the current of history, and become the Governor of the
464 The Leopard's Spots
Commonwealth — to her all honour, and praise, and
homage .
" My daughter, it is meet that our wealth and beauty
should mate with the genius and chivalry of the South.
May it ever be so, and may your children's children be as
the sands of the sea ! "
Sallie bowed her head as every eye was turned admir-
ingly upon her. The General trembled, and, when the
crowd rose to their feet and reechoed, " To her all honour
and praise and homage," and the Governor bent proudly
kissing her hand, he bowed his head and wept.
Her mother sitting by her side with shining eyes
pressed her hand and whispered,
" My beautiful daughter, now my work is done/'
As Gaston 'strolled out on the lawn with his bride after
the banquet, they found a seat in a secluded spot amid
the shrubbery.
" My sweet wife ! ," he exclaimed,
" My husband ! " she whispered, as they tenderly
clasped hands.
" Tell me now who was the author of all those lies
about me to your father? "
" Why ask it, dear ? You know Allan wrote the last
letter."
" The dastard. I was sure of it from the first. Well,
he had the facts in that last letter, didn't he? "
" Yes/' she answered with a smile.
They rose to return to the Mansion, roused by the
stroke of midnight from the clock in the tower of the
City Hall.
" From to-night, my dear," he said, with enthusiasm,
" you will share with me all the honours and responsibili-
ties of public life."
" No, my love, I do not desire any part in public life
except through you. You are my world. I ask no higher
Wedding Bells in the Governor's Mansion 465
gift of God than your love, whether you live in a Gover-
nor's Mansion, or the humblest cottage. I desire no
career save that of a wife — your wife " — she hid her
face on his breast as a little sob caught her voice, " and
I would not change places with the proudest queen that
ever wore a crown ! " She said this looking up into his
face through a mist of tears.
With trembling lips and dimmed eyes he stooped and
kissed her as he replied,
" And I had rather be the husband of such a woman
than to be the ruler of the world."
THE BUD
1 MASON .. . ... . The Four Feathers.
2 f COE . . . ... . . The Religion of a Mature Mind.
1 MASON The Little Green God.
3 McCuTCHEON Castle Craneycrow.
4 WATANNA The Wooing of Wistaria.
5 CONNOLLY v , . Out of Gloucester.
-^ f RICE Lovey Mary
\VANVORST The Woman who Toils.
2 WILLIAMS ... The Captain.
0 T™ / Letters from a Self-made Merchant
\ to His Son.
4 HARRIS Gabriel Tolliver.
5 DAVIS Captain Macklin.
1 WILSON • • • The Spenders
2 EGGLESTON ....;. The Master of Warlock.
3 BELL Abroad with the Jimmies.
4 FOSTER . . . American Diplomacy in the Orient.
5 LANG The Disentanglers.
1 JEROME Paul Kelver.
2 POTTER . . . The East of To-day and To-morrow.
3 NORRIS . The Pit.
4 HARBEN Abner Daniel.
5 CASTLE The Star Dreamer.
1 GHENT Our Benevolent Feudalism.
2 f VAN DYKE The Blue Flower.
I MARTIN Emmy Lou.
3 CHAMBERS The Maid-at-Arms.
4 PEAKE '.-..". . . The Pride of Telf air.
5 WARD ......... Lady Rose's Daughter.
1 KELLER The Story of my Life.
2 DASKAM . , . . . . Whom the Gods Destroyed.
3 HARTE Condensed Novels.
4 DIXON The Leopard's Spots.
5 HIGGINSON . . . Henry Wads worth Longfellow.